UNMERSITY  OF 
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THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 


THE  CREED  OF 
HALF  JAPAN 


HISTORICAL    SKETCHES    OF   JAPANESE 
BUDDHISM 


ARTHUR   LLOYD,   M.A. 

LBCTURSR  IN   THE   IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY,    NAVAL  ACADEMY,   NAVAL  MEDICAL 

COLLEGE,     AND     HIGHER    COMMERCIAL     SCHOOL,     TOKYO  ; 

SOMETIMB  FELLOW  OP  PKTBKHODSE,  CAMBRIDGE 


NEW  YORK 

E.    P.    BUTTON    &    COMPANY 

31  WEST  TWENTY-THIRD  STREET 

1912 


TO      THE      MBMOBY      OF 

MY  DEAR  WIPE 

MARY 

WHOSE  LOVING  CARE  AND  CONSTANT 
GOOD  COMBADESHIP,  DUKING  EIGHTEEN 
EVENTFUL  YBAE8,  HELPED  ME  ALONG 
MANY  OP  THE  STONY  DEFILES  OP  HUMAN 
LIFS! 


PEEFACE 

I  CAN  only  plead  for  my  book  that  it  is  the  work  of 
a  pioneer,  and  every  pioneer  knows  that  his  labours 
must  necessarily  be  crude  and  imperfect.  I  foresee  all 
the  strictures  that  criticism  will  pass  upon  my  labours, 
and  shall  be  more  than  content  if  what  I  have  written 
stimulates  others  to  further  research. 

More  should  have  been  said  about  the  lives  and 
teachings  of  Honen,  Shinran,  and  other  leaders  of  the 
Jodo  or  Pure  Land  sects.  The  omission  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  I  have  already  dealt  with  these  thinkers 
in  a  monograph  entitled  "  Shinran  and  His  Work," 
which  I  published  in  Tokyo  last  year.  Even  with  these 
omissions  I  fear  this  book  will  seem  rather  bulky. 

My  best  thanks  are  due  to  the  Master  of  Peterhouse, 
who  has  put  himself  to  much  trouble  on  my  behalf. 


A.  LLOYD. 


Tokyo, 

June  24,  1911. 


CONTENTS 


OHAPTEK  PAGE 

I.    Mahayana 1 

II.  The    Stage    on    which    S'akyamuni    made    his 

Appearance 5 

III.  The  Buddha  and  his  Greatest  Disciple     .        .  18 

IV.  The  Pre-Christian  Expansion  of  Buddhism        .  28 
V.    Pushyamitra 47 

VI.  The  New  Testament  in  Touch  with  the  East  .  51 

VII.  Alexandria  and  Antioch  at  the  Time  of  Christ  58 

VIII.    The  Legend  of  St.  Thomas 71 

IX.    The  Call  from  China 76 

X.  Buddhism  just  before  the  Coming  of  Christianity  85 

XI.    As'vaghosha 96 

XII.    Nagarjuna 105 

XIII.  The  Missionaries  of  the  Han      ....  117 

XIV.    Dharmagupta 131 

XV.      MANICHiEISM 145 

XVI.  China  in  the  Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Centuries  152 

XVII.    Buddhism  reaches  Japan 168 

XVIII.  The  Crown  Prince  Shotoku  Taishi     .        .        .178 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  FAOR 

XIX.  BUUDHISM      DURING     THE     NaEA      PbEIOD       (WITH 

Appendix) 191 

XX.    Heian  Buddhism 225 

XXI.    Namudaishi 248 

XXII.  The  Buddhism  of  the  Gbmpei  Period       .        .  259 

XXIII.  The  Buddhism  of  Kamakura       .        .        .        .276 

XXIV.  Nichieen  and  the  Earlier  Sects       .        .  287 
XXV.    RissHo  Ankoku  Ron 807 

XXVI.    The  Mongols 329 

XXVII.  The  Buddhism  of  the  Muromachi  Age              .  841 

XXVIII.  The  Period  of  the  Catholic  Missions     .        .  360 

XXIX.  The  Buddhism  of  the  Tokugawa  Period  .        .867 

XXX.    Recapitulation 881 

Index     .........  887 


The  ornament  on  the  side  of  the  cover  is  a  facsimile  of 
Shinran's  handwriting,  representing  the  character  for 
Buddha. 


THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 


CHAPTER    I 
Mahayana 

The  Mahayana  is  a  form  of  Buddhism.  The  word  means 
"  the  Large  Vehicle  "  or  "  Conveyance,"  and  is  used  to 
distinguish  the  later  and  amplified  Buddhism  from  the 
Hinayana  or  Small  Vehicle,  which  contains  the  doctrines 
of  that  form  of  Buddhism  which  is  purely  Indian.  The 
original  language  of  the  Hinayana  Scriptures  is  Pali,  the 
language  of  Magadha  in  S'akyamuni's  lifetime ;  that  of 
the  Mahayana  books  is  Sanskrit,  the  literary  tongue  of  the 
Brahmans,  adopted  by  Greeks,  Parthians,  and  Scythians 
as  a  means  of  theological  expression,  when  they  came  in 
turns  to  be  masters  of  North-West  India  and  the  fertile 
valleys  watered  by  the  Indus  and  its  tributaries,  in  the 
Punjaub  and  in  Afghanistan,  the  language  of  many  a 
controversy  about  philosophy  human  and  divine,  as 
Brahman  and  Buddhist  strove  in  the  early  centuries  of 
our  era  for  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  India. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  Greater 
Vehicle  differs  from  the  Lesser  only  because  it  contains  in 
it  more  of  subtle  dialectic  and  daring  speculation.  The 
case  is  not  so :  the  Pali  books  are  every  whit  as  deep 
and  every  whit  as  full   of  speculation  as  their  Sanskrit 

B 


2     THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

rivals.  The  Hinayana  is  the  Lesser  Vehicle  only  because 
it  is  more  limited  in  its  area.  It  draws  its  inspiration 
from  India  and  from  India  only,  and  had  it  been 
possible  to  confine  Buddhism  within  the  limits  of  the 
Magadhan  kingdom,  or  even  within  the  limits  of  As'oka's 
actual  dominions,  we  may  safely  infer  that  it  would  have 
continued  to  be  Hinayana  only,  as  has  been  the  case  in 
Ceylon,  where  it  has  not  been  obliged  to  rub  shoulders 
with  deeply  modifying  or  disturbing  influences.  But 
when  once  Buddhism  stepped  outside  the  limits  of  India 
pure  and  simple,  to  seek  converts  amongst  Greeks  and 
Parthians,  Bactrians,  Medes,  Turks,  Scythians,  Chinese, 
and  all  the  chaos  of  nations  that  has  made  the  history 
of  Central  Asia  so  extremely  perplexing  to  the  student, 
immediately  its  horizon  was  enlarged  by  the  inclusion  of 
many  outside  elements  of  philosophic  thought.  It  was  no 
longer  the  comfortable  family  coach  in  which  India  might 
ride  to  salvation  :  it  was  the  roomy  omnibus  Jntended  to 
accommodate  men  of  all  races  and  nations  and  to  convey 
them  safely  to  the  Perfection  of  Enlightened  Truth.  It  is 
true  that  it  never  forgot  the  rock  from  whence  it  had 
been  hewn ;  that  it  always  spoke  of  itself  as  a  religion 
intended  primarily  for  the  world  of  India.  With  a 
touching  shamefacedness.  it  tried  to  gloss  over  the  in- 
consistency of  its  own  missionary  zeal.  The  boundaries 
of  India  were  supposed  to  enlarge  themselves  as  the 
missionaries  of  Buddhism  advanced  towards  the  East. 
The  Hindu  Kush  and  the  Himalayas  ceased  to  be  the 
boundaries  of  the  sacred  land  of  Jambudvipa.  In  process 
of  time  Jambudvipa  included  Central  Asia,  China,  and 
even  Japan.* 

'  Nichiren,  for  instance,  constantly  speaks  of  ichi  em  bu  dai  (which  is 
his  way  of  writing  Jambudvipa)  as  =  India,  China,  and  Japan.  It  was  a 
protest,  by  way  of  adaptation,  against  the  idea  that  a  Buddha  could  not 
be  bom  outside  of  India. 


MAHAYANA  3 

The  Mahayana  was  probably  a  matter  of  slow  and,  at 
first,  unobserved  growth.  Among  the  numerous  sects 
which  divided  the  Hinayana  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era,  some  were  probably  more  comprehensive, 
more  advanced,  than  others,  and  there  must  have  been 
some  which  had  almost  reached  to  the  expansive  fulness 
of  the  Mahayana  itself.  Verj;  little  indeed  is  known  of 
the  history  of  Buddhism  between  the  deat^nf  As'nka  and 
the  dawn  of  the  Christian  era — during  the  period,  that  is, 
when  the  Mahayana  was  in  the  state  of  gestation.  What 
we  do  know  is  that  about  the  end  of  the  first  century  of 
the  Christian  era,  between  five  and  six  hundred  years 
after  the  death  of  Buddha,  the  Mahayana  comes  into 
existence  in  Kashmir  and  North-West  India  and  the 
valley  of  the  Indus ;  that  it  enjoys  the  patronage  of  the 
Scythian  conquerors  of  those  districts,  whose  conversion  to 
Buddhism  may  have  been  due,  in  the  first  place,  to  a  politic 
desire  to  stand  well  with  their  newly  acquired  Buddhist 
subjects ;  that  it  was  adorned  by  some  great  names  of 
saints  and  doctors ;  and  that  it  spread  from  the  land -of 
its  birth  to  the  most  distant  regions  of  Northern  and 
Eastern  Asia. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  work  to  write  a  long  and 
elaborate  life  of  S'akyamuni.  That  subject  has  been 
exhaustively  treated  of  by  many  great  scholars,  and  Japan 
has  very  little  of  new  material  to  contribute  towards  it. 
I^hall  take  up  the  main  thread  of  my  story  from  the  time 
when  the  Mahayana  makes  its  first  distinct  appearance 
on  the  stage  of  Eastern  religious  life,  that  is,  during 
the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era.  In  doing  so,  I  shall 
have  to  touch  on  the  first  beginnings  of  Christianity  also, 
the  contemporary  faith  which,  in  those  early  days,  converted 
the  West,  while  failing,  comparatively,  to  win  the  East  for 
Christ,  just  as  the  Mahayana  seemed  to  be  hindered  from 


4     THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

impressing  itself  on  the  West,  while  it  has  had  a  free 
course  and  a  lasting  success  in  the  lands  of  the  Far  East. 
In  the  course  of  these  pages  certain  considerations  will  be 
advanced  (with  how  much  of  convincing  power  it  must 
rest  with  the  reader  to  decide)  to  show  that  the  twftjaiths 
came  into  actual^ontact  with  one  another^ in  many  points 
during  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  our  era,  and  that 
each  contributed  something  to  the  success  and  failure  of 
yie_jlther»  It  is  a  most  difficult  subject  to  handle,  and 
before  setting  myself  to  work  at  it,  I  can  but  pray — a 
good  old-fashioned  custom  for  which  I  am  almost  ashamed 
to  feel  myself  obliged  to  offer  an  apology — that  nothing  I 
write  may  offend  against  that  sacred  cause  of  Truth,  which 
should  be  the  only  aim  of  the  scientific  and  Christian 
scholar. 

But,  before  plunging  into  my  subject  proper,  it  seems 
but  right  that  I  should  devote  a  few  short  chapters  to  the 
consideration  of  the  person  of  the  Founder,  and  of  the 
extent  of  As'oka's  influence,  as  shown  by  the  rock  in- 
scriptions which  that  monarch  has  left  behind  him.  These 
chapters  will  enable  the  reader  more  accurately  to  estimate 
the  extent  of  the  acquaintance  which  we  may  suppose 
Europe  and  India  to  have  had  of  one  another  at  the  time 
when  Christianity  and  the  Mahayana  sprang  simultane- 
ously into  life. 


CHAPTER    II 

The  Stage  on  which  S'akyamuni  made  his 
Appearance 

The  Sutras  which  are  commonly  received  as  giving  an 
authentic  account  of  the  teachings  of  the  S'akyamuni,^ 
will  also  furnish  us  with  certain  geographical  and  other 
data  which  are  necessary  for  us  if  we  would  form  a  correct 
picture  of  India  in  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  the  India  in 
which  S'akyamuni  taught  and  laboured.^ 

We  need  not  take  a  very  wide  geographical  survey. 
What  actually  concerns  us  is  a  small  portion  of  the  valley 
of  the  Ganges,  comprising  practically  the  two  districts  of 
Oudh  and  Behar,^  stretching  to  the  east  as  far  as  Patna,  to 
the  west  as  far  as  Allahabad.  The  Himalayas  form  the 
northern  boundary  of  S'akyamuni' s  country,  the  Ganges 
is  practically  its  southern  limit ;  the  only  exception  being 
that  Bodhigaya  and  the  district  intimately  connected  with 
the  Enlightenment  of  the  Tathagata  lie  to  the  south  of 

*  Cf.,  in  Japanese,  "  Buddha  no  Juseiron  "  (by  Maeda) ;  in  English, 
"  Buddhism  in  Translation  "  (Warren),  "  Gospel  of  Buddha  "  (Paul 
Garus) ;  and  in  German,  "  Die  Reden  des  Gotama  Buddhas  "  (Neumann), 
The  first  of  these  is  the  most  useful  for  the  purposes  of  this  book,  because 
it  has  been  compiled  from  a  frankly  Mahayaijistic  point  of  view. 

*  The  importance  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  which  inaugurated  so 
many  movements  of  a  religious  and  philosophical  nature,  it  is  hard  to 
overestimate. 

*  Behar  is  said  to  derive  its  name  from  Vihara,  a  Buddhist 
monastery.  It  was  one  of  the  last,  as  it  was  also  one  of  the  first, 
strongholds  of  Buddhism  in  India. 


6     THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

the  sacred  river.  Later  developments  of  the  Buddhist 
communities  may  make  it  necessary  for  us  to  enlarge  our 
geographical  inquiries,  but  for  the  present  these  bound- 
aries will  suffice  for  our  consideration.  They  will  enable 
us  to  follow  the  life  of  the  Great  Master  in  all  its  principal 
phases. 

The  Buddhist  Sutras  tell  us  a  good  deal  about  the 
population  of  the  country  in  which  the  Wheel  of  the  Law 
was  set  in  motion. 

The  India  of  S'akyamuni's  time  was  under  the  domina- 
tion of  an  Aryan  race,  which  had  conquered  the  land  and 
brought  into  it  institutions  not  unlike  those  which  we 
find  in  some  other  Aryan  countries,  Athens,  for  instance.^ 
They  had  divided  the  population  into  four  great  castes, 
of  whom  the  fourth,  possibly  also  the  third,  may  have 
been  mixed  with  some  of  the  conquered  races,  whilst 
the  two  higher  ones  certainly  belonged  to  the  nobility 
of  the  conquest.  In  S'akyamuni's  time  the  Sicdras, 
or  low-caste  people,  and  the  Vaisyas,  or  merchants  and 
farmers,  lived  quietly,  without  any  part  or  lot  in  the 
privileges  of  national  life,  contented  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  pursuit  of  their  several  vocations  ;  the  Kshatriyas 
and  Brahmans,  having  accomplished  the  subjugation  of 
the  other  two  castes,  were  struggling  against  each  other 
for  supremacy  in  State  and  Society.  Chief  among  the 
Kshatriyan  tribes  which  resisted  the  supremacy  claimed 
by  the  Brahmans  were  the  clans  known  collectively  as 
the  S'akyans,  who  were  politically  supreme  in  the  districts 
actually  affected  by  S'akyamuni's  life.  S'akyan  was,  how- 
ever, only  a  collective  name  :  the  clans  were  distinguished 

'  In  Athens  we  find,  e.g.,  the  population  of  the  autochthons  divided 
into  four  classes  corresponding  to  the  four  castes  of  India.  Of.  Grote's 
"  Hist,  of  Greece,"  chap.  x.  For  the  Aryan  races,  see  Hunter,  "  Brief 
History  of  the  Indian  people,"  chap.  iv.  pp.  52-73. 


S'AKYAMUNI'S  STAGE  7 

from  one  another  by  tribal  names  as  well,  such  as  Lic- 
chavis,  Vrijjis,  Mallas,  Andhas,  etc.,  some  of  which  remain 
to  the  present  day.  The  S'akyan  nobles,^  it  is  said, 
welcomed  the  person  of  S'akyamuni,  their  kinsman 
prophet,  whose  teachings  encouraged  them  in  their  resist- 
ance to  Brahman  usurpations,  but  they  were  not  always 
equally  willing  to  adopt  his  practical  teachings.  The 
Brahmans,  ultimately  victorious  in  the  struggle  for 
political  and  religious  supremacy  in  India,  have  had  their 
revenge  on  these  S'akyan  tribes  by  refusing  to  consider 
them  as  families  of  pure  descent.  It  is  hard  to  determine 
the  point.  All  Buddhists  claim  that  S'akyamuni's  lineage 
came  from  Ikshvaku^  the  descendant  of  Manu,  the  de- 
scendant of  Brahma.  Licchavis  ruled  later,  by  virtue  of 
Kshatriyan  descent,  in  Nepaul,  Bhutan,  Ladakh,  and 
(through  marriage)  in  Tibet,  and  the  Licchavi  dynasty  in 
Nepaul  was  succeeded  by  a  line  of  Malla  kings.  At  the 
same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  we  have  from  the 
very  earliest  times  traces  of  intercourse  between  Nepaul, 
Tibet,  and  China,  which  should  be  considered. 

China,  as  shown  by  the  late  Prof.  Lacouperie  and 
others,  e.g.  Mr.  Morse  (in  his  "  Trade  and  Administration 
of  the  Chinese  Empire  "),  was  occupied,  before  the  advent 
of  the  Chinese  from  Western  Asia,  by  many  aboriginal 

'  The  documents  tell  us  how  eagerly  the  S'akyans  of  Kapilavastu  and 
Magadha  welcomed  the  teachings  of  Buddha.  The  very  name  S'akya- 
muni implies  that  he  was  officially  accepted  as  the  "teacher  of  the 
S'akyans,"  and  that  his  creed  became,  as  it  were,  the  national  religion 
of  the  district,  though  Brahmanism  stUl  continued  to  be  tolerated. 
There  are,  however,  e.g.  in  Kern's  "  History  of  Buddhism,"  stories  which 
show  that  S'akyamuni  had  to  maintain  his  claim  as  a  religious  teacher 
by  demonstrating  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  S'akyan  nobles  that  he  was 
as  skilful  in  the  use  of  arms  as  they  were  themselves. 

^  Hewett,  "Notes  on  Early  History  of  India,"  pt.  ii.,  in  J.B.A.S., 
April,  1889,  p.  276,  has  a  note  to  show  that  the  Ikshvakus  came  from 
Assyria  and  the  Euphrates  valley. 


8     THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

tribes,  whom  it  took  the  Chinese  centuries  to  absorb 
successfully  into  themselves.  Many  of  these  original 
tribes,  such  as  the  Lolo,  the  Mantsze,  and  the  Miao,  took 
leading  parts  in  Chinese  history,  and  many  of  them  would 
seem  to  have  had  dealings  with  nations  beyond  the  borders 
of  their  empire.  The  earliest  traditions  of  Nepaul  ascribe 
the  first  draining  and  development  of  their  land,  in  pre- 
Buddhistic  times,  to  the  Bodhisattva  Manjusri  (Jap. 
Monju),  whose  chief  temple  is  at  Wii-tai-chan,  near  Pekin, 
who  is  the  patron  deity,  par  excellence,  of  the  western  and 
northern  tribes  of  China,  and  who  is  considered  to  be 
perpetually  reincarnated  in  the  person  of  the  Manchu 
sovereign  of  China.^  It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that 
Manjusri^  was  originally  the  deified  hero  of  one  of  the 
tribes  of  Northern  China,  possibly  the  Mantsze,  that  he 
distinguished  himself  during  his  lifetime  by  his  successful 
development  and  colonization  of  Nepaul,  and  that  he  was 

•  Prof,  Pelliot,  in  "  Bulletin  de  L'Ecole  FranQaise  de  rExtr^me 
Orient,"  viii.  3  and  4,  has  an  account  of  a  recent  find  of  manuscripts  and 
books  which  wUl  do  much  to  settle  the  question  of  ManjuSri.  According 
to  the  Tibetan  history  recently  published  at  Calcutta,  with  Index  and 
Analysis,  by  Sarat  Chandra  Das,  the  conversion  of  India  must  be  ascribed 
to  S'akyamuni  and  his  consort  Tara,  that  of  Bactria  and  Central  Asia 
to  the  labours  of  the  Bodhisattvas,  that  of  China  to  Manjufiri  or  Manju- 
ghosha,  and  that  of  Tibet  to  AvalokiteSvara.  The  mention  of  Tara 
clearly  shows  the  lateness  of  the  tradition,  but  there  is  in  Mr.  Tada 
Kanae's  lectures  on  the  Shoshinge  ("  Shoshinge  Kowa,"  p.  289)  mention  of 
a  certain  Buddhist  patriarch  who  went  from  India  to  China  because  he 
heard  that  Manjufiri  had  been  there,  as  though  Manju&ri  had  once  been 
a  real  person  living  in  China.  If  ManjuSri  may  be  considered  as  a  real 
person,  and  if  theiBodhisttvas  of  Central  Asia  are  also  historical,  it  may 
be  possible  to  assign  the  place  of  origin  of  many  of  the  IMahayana  Sutras 
according  to  the  speakers  in  them,  those  of  Central  Asian  origin  being 
mainly  spoken  by  one  or  other  of  the  Bodhisattvas,  and  those  intended, 
as  it  were,  for  the  Chinese  market  bearing  the  ManjuSri  influence,  at 
least  in  later  revisions.  But  it  is  impossible  to  dogmatize  with  the 
scanty  information  at  hand. 

*  Sylvain  Levi,  *'  Histoire  du  Nepal,"  vol.  ii.  p.  69. 


S'AKYAMUNI'S   STAGE  9 

subsequently  adopted  into  the  Buddhist  pantheon  by  the 
all-embracing  Mahayana.  As  M.  Sylvain  Levi  has  said, 
it  is  impossible  as  yet  adequately  to  define  the  extent  of 
the  influence  exerted  on  Buddhism  in  remote  times  by 
China  and  neighbouring  countries. 

Buddhism  has  always  been  the  religion  of  merchants. 
The  Sutras  tell  us  of  many  wealthy  traders  who  supported 
the  order  by  their  generous  donations.  There  must  have 
been  a  great  volume  of  trade.  The  S'akyan  nobles,  who 
constantly  address  S'akyamuni  as  gotama,  "  herdsman " 
(apparently  a  common  mode  of  address),  were  of  the  same 
race  as  the  herdsmen  of  the  Himalayas.  There  is  at  least 
one  Sutra  which  speaks  of  the  wool  merchant  from  across 
the  mountains,  and  it  is  indeed  to  wandering  S'akyan 
herdsmen  that  is  attributed  the  opening  up  of  the  valley 
of  Lhassa  in  Thibet.  One  of  S'akyamuni's  earliest  disciples 
was  a  merchant's  son  from  Benares  named  Yasas.  He 
has  been  identified  (wrongly,  as  I  think)  with  S'anavasas, 
the  third  patriarch  of  the  Northern  succession.  Now, 
S'anavasas  is  described  as  having  been  a  ship-captain. 
True,  he  may  only  have  been  the  skipper  of  a  Ganges 
barge ;  but  there  are  two  later  patriarchs  of  whom  it  is  ex- 
pressly stated  that  they  had  penetrated  as  far  as  Turkestan 
in  their  travels. 

To  the  lowest  class,  the  Sudras,  belonged  one  at  least 
of  S'akyamuni's  disciples,  Upali,  the  barber.  But  there 
are  traces  of  lower  strata  of  society  more  degraded  even 
than  the  Sudras.  There  is  a  record  of  a  mission,^  conducted 
by  the  master  in  person,  to  a  tribe  of  cannibals,  whom  he 

'  This  incident  is  of  importance  as  showing  one  of  the  best  features 
of  the  creed  as  taught  by  S'akyamuni.  The  Brahman  religion  frankly 
left  out  of  consideration  all  those  who  were  not  of  the  "Twice-born," 
which  was  the  name  given  to  the  privileged  castes.  The  Kshatriyas,  or 
Warriors  (amongst  whom  we  must  include  the  S'akyans),  whilst  eager  to 
assert  the  privileges  of  their  order  as  against  the  sacerdotal  caste,  were 


lo  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

converted  to  better  ways ;  and  many  have  seen  in  the 
Nagas,  Gandharas,  Kinnaras,  and  other  half-mythical 
companies  of  beings,  the  traces  of  aboriginal  tribes  of  a 
low  order.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  Nagas, 
who  are  so  constantly  appearing  in  the  Sutras.  They 
were  most  probably  savages  whose  name  was  given  to 
them  from  their  worship  of  serpents  (still  practised  in 
India).  In  the  Nepaulese  legend  they  appear  as  the 
original  inhabitants  of  the  swamps  opened  up  by  the 
civilizing  Manjusri,  Driven  out  by  Manjusri,  they  take 
refuge  in  Nagaloka,^  the  world  of  the  Nagas,  or  serpents, 
which  to  the  Nepaulese  is  Thibet.  Strange  to  say,  the 
Thibetan  records  also  speak  of  Nagas  and  Nagaloka ;  but 
in  their  case  Nagaloka  is  China.  This  seems  to  me  to 
be  another  instance  of  a  very  early  intercourse  between 
India  and  China,  or  at  least  with  those  districts  of  Central 
Asia  which  had  early  connections  with  that  empire. 

Hindoo  philosophy,  such   as  we  now  understand  it,^ 

not  perhaps  equally  eager  to  have  emphasis  laid  on  the  universal 
character  of  the  new  faith.  The  Buddha  was  not  fighting  for  the 
privileges  of  any  class,  but  was  busied  with  a  salvation  which  was  to  be 
a  blessing  to  all  men  alike.  His  mission  to  the  cannibals  must  have 
been  as  distasteful  to  the  Kshatriyas  as  it  was  to  the  Brahmans.  See 
Watanabe's  "  Story  of  Kalmasapada,"  published  by  Pali  Text  Society, 
1910. 

'  See  Sylvain  Levi,  I.e.,  and  the  Analytical  Index  to  the  Tibetan 
"  History  of  the  Rise,  Progress,  and  Downfall  of  Buddhism  in  India," 
edited  by  Sarat  Chandra  Das  (Calcutta,  1908).  See  also  article  on 
"  Serpent  Worshipiin  India,"  by  Surgeon-Major  Oldham  in  J.R.A.S.  for 
July,  1891.  For  us  the  question  of  the  Nagas  will  have  special  interest, 
because  the  Mahayana  tradition  asserts  that  it  was  a  Naga  king  that 
revealed  to  Nagarjuna,  in  the  Dragon  Palace  under  the  Sea,  the  holy 
text  of  the  Avatamsaka,  or  Kegon  Scriptures. 

»  I  think  it  may  be  shown  that  there  was  very  little  philosophy  be- 
fore S'akyamuni's  time,  nothing  like  the  six  definite  schools  which 
appear  in  later  centuries.  The  philosophy  of  the  Hindoos  arose  partly 
from  the  need  for  definite  thought  brought  out  by  the  controversies 
between  Brahmans,  Buddhists,  and  sectaries,  and  partly  also  from 


S'AKYAMUNI'S   STAGE  ii 

did  not  exist.  That  would  seem  to  have  been  the  product 
of  a  later  age.  The  Brahman  religion  existed,  but  in  its 
infancy.  The  day  of  the  Vedic  gods  was  not  yet  over ; 
men  still  bowed  before  Indra,  Varuna,  and  the  rest  of  the 
ancient  deities,  and  the  gods  whom  Buddhism  has  adopted 
into  its  pantheon,  such  as,  e.g.,  the  twin  deities  that  guard 
the  entrance  to  the  temples  of  the  older  sects  in  Japan, 
belong  exclusively  to  the  early  period.  The  Brahmans 
had  doubtless  begun  the  formation  of  the  theological 
system  which  was  to  fetter  the  intellect  as  it  had  fettered 
the  social  liberties  of  the  people ;  but  the  system  was  not 
yet  completed,  and  there  were  many  among  the  Kshatriyas 
who  openly  resisted  the  pretensions  of  the  sacerdotal 
class.^  It  was,  also,  a  period  of  great  religious  zeal  and 
inquiry.  Time  and  again,  in  reading  the  biographical 
notices  connected  with  the  proceedings  of  S'akyamuni,  we 
find  that  his  converts  were  men  who  had  for  years  been 
searchers  after  truth;  in  some  cases,  as,  e.g.,  that  of 
Uruvilva  Kasyapa,  they  had  themselves  been  religious 
teachers,  and  drew  their  own  followers  after  them  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  S'akyamuni's  disciples.  But  it  would  seem 
as  though  before  S'akyamuni's  time  there  was  but  one 
path  known  for  the  searcher  after  truth  to  follow — the  way 
of  austerities  and  penance,  which  brought  power  and 
influence  to  the  sacerdotal  Brahmans,  without  always 
leading  the  searcher  to  the  much-coveted  enlightenment 
and  peace.^ 

contact  with  extraneous  thought,  especially  Greek.  It  is  interesting  to 
trace  the  contemporaneous  development  of  philosophy  in  India  and  in 
Greece. 

*  The  order  of  the  castes  in  Buddhist  authors  is  (1)  Kshatriyas, 
(2)  Brahmans,  (3)  VaiSyas,  (4)  Sudras.  See  J.R.A.S.,  April,  1894, 
pp.  341  ff. 

*  And  yet  S'akyamuni's  preaching  was  nothing  new.  He  was  appeal- 
ing to  truths  which  had  been  overlaid  and  forgotten.  Nichiren  speaks 
of  a  Buddhism  before  Buddha. 


12  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Not  all  these  searchers  were  convinced  by  Buddha's 
methods.  S'akyamuni  had  many  rivals,  of  whom  one  at 
least  founded  a  system  of  belief  which  has  endured  to  our 
own  time.  Mahavira,  the  founder  of  the  Jain  sect,  was 
the  contemporary  of  S'akyamuni,  and  died  in  the  Kosala 
country,  not  many  miles  from  the  place  where  S'akyamuni 
went  to  his  rest,  apparently  in  the  same  year  as  his  more 
celebrated  rival.  Jainism  and  Buddhism  are  kindred 
faiths,  and  the  Jainists  and  Buddhists  seem  to  have 
always  looked  upon  one  another  as  brethren,  or,  at  least, 
as  spiritual  cousins.^ 

It  was  in  such  a  country  and  in  such  an  age  that 
S'akyamuni  was  born.  The  son  of  Suddhodhana,  King  of 
Kapilavastu,  and  of  his  wife,  the  Lady  Maya,  his  birth  is 
said  to  have  been  accompanied  with  marvels  which  really 
belong  to  a  later  chapter  of  our  book,  and  his  boyhood 
was  marked  by  a  singular  precocity  of  intellect  and  purity 
of  character.  The  wise  men  summoned  to  the  palace  at 
the  time  of  his  birth,''  and  especially  one  of  their  number, 
the  aged  sage  Asita,  told  the  happy  father  that  the  new- 
born babe  would  be  either  an  epoch-making  emperor  or  a 
world-saving  Buddha ;  and  the  father,  feeling  perhaps 
that  charity  should  begin  at  home,  determined  that,  if 
possible,  his  son  should  be  prepared  for  the  former  of  the 
two  alternatives.  The  young  Prince  Siddhartha  was 
brought  up  as  became  a  S'akyan  prince  of  high  degree ; 
trained  in  arms,  literature,  and  science,  he  was  surrounded 

>  It  is  quite  in  accordance  with  the  proper  fitness  of  things  that  in  Kim 
Budyard  Kipling  should  make  the  old  Lama  seek  a  home  for  himself  at 
Benares  in  a  Jain  monastery. 

*  A  Chinese  legend,  undoubtedly  false,  says  that  Laotze  was  present 
on  that  occasion.  It  is  perhaps  also  worthy  of  notice  that  later  Chinese 
legend  credits  Laotze  with  a  virgin  birth  from  the  side  of  his  mother, 
which  is  very  much  like  that  ascribed  to  S'akyamuni  in  the  Buddhist 
traditions.    The  same  claim  was  made  for  Jinghis  Khan  and  Christ. 


\ 


S'AKYAMUNI'S   STAGE  13 

with  nothing  but  objects  pleasant  for  his  eye  to  rest  upon, 
and  the  most  beautiful  person  in  his  harem  was  his  wife, 
the  carefully  selected  Princess  Yasodhara.^ 

Many  incidents,  however,  show  that  his  mind  was  not 
at  ease  in  the  midst  of  all  his  luxury,  and  this  feeling  of 
dissatisfaction  was  increased  by  several  sights  which 
brought  home  to  him  the  inherent  misery  of  the  world. 
A  ceremonial  ploughing-festival,  which,  as  Crown  Prince, 
it  was  his  duty  to  attend,  revealed  to  him  the  strife 
that  there  is  in  Nature,  the  upturned  earth  showing  the 
worms  cut  in  two  by  the  ploughshare  to  become  the 
prey  of  the  birds  that  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  plough- 
man. Shortly  after,  he  met,  at  short  intervals,  an  aged  ly 
person,  a  sick  man,  a  corpse,  and  a  holy  monk.  He  learned 
about  the  sorrow  and  pain  that  there  are  in  the  world,  he 
also  learned  that  there  was  a  way  by  which  escape  from 
the  "  Welt-schmerz "  was  possible,  and  he  resolved  to 
follow  it.  He  had  received  his  call;  and  he  obeyed  the 
vocation.  . 

It  was  not  mere  selfishness  that  induced  him  to  leave  V 
his  home  to  follow  after  the  Truth.  When  he  bent  over 
the  sleeping  forms  of  his  beloved  wife  and  his  new-bom 
son  at  the  moment  of  his  departure,  he  resolved  that, 
when  he  had  found  the  Way,  he  would  come  back  and 
save  his  loved  ones,  and  he  kept  his  promise.  But  the 
Way  was  not  easy  to  find,  and  the  search  was  long  and 
difficult.  For  six  long  years,  by  self-imposed  fastings, 
austerities,  and  penance,  his  strained  soul,  dwelling  in  an 
emaciated  body,  constantly  exposed  to  the  temptations  of 
Mara,  the  Evil  One,  searched  patiently  for  the  Truth,  but 

'  Out  of  whom  later  Buddhist  legend  has  developed  the  goddess  Tard, 
the  spiritual  consort  of  the  glorified  S'akyamuni,  intended,  possibly,  to 
offset  the  claims  of  the  B.V.M.  as  S'akyamuni  in  the  Mahayana  was 
intended  to  offset  those  of  Christ. 


14    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

in  vain.  At  last  he  gave  up  his  fruitless  efforts,  partook 
of  food  after  a  long  abstinence,  had  one  last  combat  with 
the  Evil  One  who  strove  to  appeal  to  his  pride  and  fear, 
and  then  sat  down  "  under  the  fig-tree  "  at  Bodhi-Gaya 
and  awaited  enlightenment.  Had  he  been  a  Christian  or 
^^  a  Jew,  we  might  have  said  that  "  he  listened  to  what  the 
Lord  God  should  say  unto  him," 

/What  his  soul  heard  was  as  follows :  "  (1)  There  is 
Pain  in  the  world,  and  Pain  is  universal  (2)  All  pain 
is  the  result  of  Concupiscence  (Trishna).  (.3)  Destroy 
Concupiscence  and  you  free  yourself  from  Pain.  (4)  There 
is  a  path  by  which  you  can  attain  to  the  Destruction 
of  Concupiscence,  and  its  end  is  Liberation."  The  Libera- 
tion is  what  is  known  as  Nirvana,  and  the  "result  of 
Concupiscence,"  which  leads  to  action,  is  Karma. 

These  propositions  are  known  as  the  Four  Great 
Truths.  They  contained  nothing  new,  and  yet  the  Light 
which  S'akyamuni  threw  upon  them  was  a  fresh  one. 
Karma  and  Nirvana  were  words  well  known  to  India 
before  S'akyamuni's  discovery  of  them ;  the  things  them- 
selves were  known  in  Greece  and  to  the  Jewish  people. 

The  great  question  of  the  retribution  that  waits  on 
human  actions  had  been  brought  solemnly  before  the 
Asiatic  world  by  the  impressive  fall  of  the  Babylonian 
Empire,  before  both  Asia  and  Europe,  during  the  lifetime 
almost  of  S'akyamuni  himself,  by  the  overthrow  of  Xerxes 
at  Marathon  and  Salamis.  The  Greek  theologian-poet 
^schylus  treated  of  this  theme  in  his  "  Eumenides,"  and 
again  in  his  tragedy  of  the  "  Persians."  The  prophet  of  the 
Captivity,  Ezekiel,  had  been  proclaiming  to  his  country- 
men (Ezek.  xviii.)  a  new  law  of  retribution.  Each  soul, 
said  the  prophet,  should  bear  its  own  burdens;  there 
should  be  no  more  reason  to  say  in  Israel,  "  the  fathers 
had  eaten  sour  grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  had  been 


S'AKYAMUNI'S   STAGE  15 

set  on  edge."  We  shall  also  do  well  to  remember  that 
the  deutero-Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  had  both  insisted  on  the 
value  and  benefit  of  the  sabbath  day,  and  that  a  fresh 
impetus  had  been  given  to  the  moral  law  by  the  labours 
of  Ezra,  the  reviser  of  Holy  Scripture  (Isa.  Ivi.  6,  7 ; 
Ezek.  XX.  12,  etc.,  xviii,  2,  etc. ;  Deut.  viii.  12 ;  Ps.  cxix.). 

What   S'akyamuni   taught   was  this :    the    universal  \ 
existence  of  Pain  (and  Pain  must  be  taken  in  its  widest  } 
sense) ;  the  root  of  Pain,  which  is  the  Lust  that  is  in  the  / 
human  heart ;  the  end  to  be  attained,  which  is  the  Destruc-/ 
tion  of  Desire ;  and  the  way  to  obtain  it.     Desire,  Karma, 
the  wheel  of  Life  and  Death :  the  quenching  of  Desire,  the 
Destruction  of  Karma,  the  Peace  of  Nirvana.^     Karma  is 
no  Nemesis,  such  as  in  ^schylus   pursues    the   unjust 
and  the  slayer.     Nemesis  is  vengeful,  seems  to  be  given 
to  wrath,  and  to  be  guided  by  anger;  Nemesis,  to  men's 
eyes,  is  fitful,  irregular,  and  therefore  unjust.     Karma,  as 
S'akyamuni  saw  it,  is  a  universal  law,  working  quietly 
and  steadily  along  a  twelve-fold  chain  of  causation,  and 
binding  its  victim  to  the  ever-revolving  wheel  of  Life  and 
Death.     It  works  unobtrusively,  but  surely ;  yet  it  can  be 
broken.    There  is  what  S'akyamuni  calls  a  noble  Eight-fold        y 
Path,  of  right  views,  right  aims,  right  actions,  etc.,  which  ^-^ 
leads  in  time  to  the  destruction  of  evil  Karma  by  the 
quenching  of  Desire,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  S'akya- 
muni's  life-work  to  instil  into  his  hearers  the  way  of  the 
Noble  Path,  which  alone  can  lead  to  emancipation.     Of 
philosophy  he  spoke  but  little ;  ^  the  so-called  Philosophy  y^ 
of  Buddhism  was  a  later  product. 

*  If  we  remember  that  most  Pali  writers  speak  of  the  Enlightenment 
as  the  Nibbana  and  of  the  Death  as  Parinibbana,  we  shall  have  some 
light  on  the  word  Nirvana.  S'akyamuni  had  had  a  vision  of  the  Truth, 
and  "  the  Truth  had  made  him  free."  He  had  many  doubts  and  troubles 
after  that,  but  he  was  at  peace  {J.A.S.B.,  Jan.  1908,  p.  9,  note). 

*  Neumann,  "  Buddha  "  (Danish  edit.). 


Vi 


i6    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

He  did  not  profess  to  teach  a  new  doctrine.  What  he 
taught  was  the  "  Way  of  the  Buddhas."  ^  He  recognized 
that  there  had  been  Buddhas  before  him,^  as  there  would 
be  Buddhas  after  him.  He  was  thus  enabled  freely  to 
adopt  many  things  that  seemed  good  in  systems  other 
than  his  own,  and  flexibility  has  always  been  a  mark  of 
his  religion.  To  us  it  will  seem  easy  to  conjecture  the 
quarter  from  which  he  got  his  idea  of  a  weekly  sabbath,^ 
and  the  fact  that  the  Order  of  Monks  kept  their  sabbath 
days  for  many  centuries  after  the  Nirvana  will  make  it 
easier  for  us  to  recognize  and  admit  the  doctrine  held  by 
a  large  section  of  northern  Buddhists,  that  Buddha  also 
taught,  personally  and  during  his  earthly  life,  the  salvation 
worked  out  for  many  by  another  Buddha,  who  is  Boundless 
in  Life,  Light,  and  Compassion,  and  whom  Japan  knows  as 
Amitabha.* 

'  "  Do  not  commit  evil, 
Do  all  that  is  good, 
Cleanse  your  own  heart — 
This  is  the  way  of  the  Buddhas," 

"  Light  of  Buddha,"  p.  37. 

'  There  is  a  list  given  of  these  pre-Buddhistic  Buddhas,  in,  e.g., 
Hardy's  "  Manual  of  Buddhism." 

*  Sabbath.  In  the  Proceedings  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal, 
vol.  iv.  part  1,  Jan.  1908,  there  is  an  article  by  Mr.  H.  C,  Norman, 
showing  that  the  question  of  the  keeping  of  the  Uposathas  or  sabbath 
days  was  one  of  the  causes  that  led  to  the  convening  of  As'oka's  Council. 
The  sabbath  was,  however,  a  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  institution  as 
well  as  a  Jewish  one.  See  Mahler,  "  Der  Sabbat,"  in  Z.D.M.O.,  vol.  Ixii. 
part  i.  p.  36,  etc. 

*  On  this  point  the  Japanese  Buddhists  with  few  exceptions  are 
very  clear.  They  place  the  Sutras  in  which  S'akyamuni  spoke  of 
Amitabha  in  that  period  of  silence  towards  the  end  of  his  ministerial 
life  when  we  lose  our  track  of  him,  and  can  no  longer  follow  him  from 
year  to  year.  The  doctrine  thus  proclaimed  was  taken  with  the  seceders 
after  the  Second  Council  beyond  the  Himalayas  (some  say  to  south 
India).  It  reappears  after  many  years,  in  the  country  to  which  it  had 
been  taken,  in  the  lifetime  of  Nagarjuna,  and  when  the  Kushau  conquests 


S'AKYAMUNI'S   STAGE  17 

S'akyamuni  was  no  atheist.  He  did  indeed  teach  that 
the  enlightened  Buddha  was  higher  than  the  gods  of  the 
Brahman  pantheon,  higher  than  Indra,  Varuna,  Agni, 
Emma-San  or  Kompira  Sama,  who  now  fill  subordinate 
places  in  Buddhist  temples.  These  gods  were  creatures 
of  fancy,  subject,  like  Venus,  Juno,  Neptune,  to  the  Law 
of  Change,  and  liable  to  that  extinction  which  has  befallen 
the  gods  of  Assyria  and  Babylon,  of  Egypt,  Greece,  and 
ancient  Eome.  From  the  denial  of  such  gods  to  the . 
denial  of  all  gods  is  a  very  long  step,  and  I  think  it  may 
be  shown  that  S'akyamuni  never  took  it.  Eather  I  would 
say,  and  this  I  hope  to  make  clear  as  I  proceed,  that 
wherever  S'akyamuni's  own  influence  reached,  it  served  to 
give  men  higher  and  truer  ideas  of  the  Divine  Nature,  and 
that  his  teachings  were  thus  intended  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  acceptance  of  the  highest  of  all  truths. 

had  united  North- West  India  and  the  Central  Asian  lands  for  a  short  while 
under  one  sceptre.  The  history  of  the  Amitabha  doctrine  is  well  worked 
out  in  the  "  Shoshinge  Kowa,"  to  which  I  have  already  alluded.  Amitabha 
is  the  original  Buddha,  the  First  Cause,  the  Father,  not  exactly  the 
Creator,  but  the  originator  of  the  Law  of  Cause  and  Effect  through 
which  the  universe  came  into  existence.  He  has  revealed  himself 
many  times,  the  long  list  of  previous  Buddhas  in  the  Sukhuvati  Vyi'iha 
being  recorded  to  give  definiteness  to  this  idea,  and  S'akyamuni  was 
the  latest  of  these  manifestations.  The  Ophite  Gnostics  held  exactly 
this  idea,  making  Christ  a  still  later  manifestation  superseding  all  that 
had  gone  before,  just  as  Amitabha  supersedes  all  other  previous  Buddhas. 
In  connection  with  the  questions  thus  raised,  a  Japanese  scholar,  much 
interested  in  religion,  has  pointed  out  to  me  that  in  some  early  forms 
of  the  Apostle's  Creed  there  is  no  clause  "  Creator  of  heaven  and 
earth."  I  shall  have  to  refer  to  the  character  used  for  writing  "  Buddha  " 
later  on.  Here  I  would  point  out  that  Buddha  to  the  Shinshu  believer 
is  always  Amitabha,  whose  "  Divine  Name  "  is  pronounced  in  worship 
as  Namu  Amida  Butsu.  This  formula  is  interpreted  to  mean,  "  Trust 
in  me,  I  will  save  you,"  which  is  not  a  translation  of  the  formula,  but 
is  one  of  the  Name  of  Christ.  The  Shinshuists  call  this  formula  "  the 
Divine  Name  of  the  Six  Letters,"  for  which  see  Irenaeus,  ii.  24. 


CHAPTER   III 

The  Buddha  and  his  Gkeatbst  Disciple 

Thanks  to  the  labours  of  many  students  of  the  Buddhist 
books,  both  Pali  and  Sanskrit,  we  are  able  to  form  a  vivid 
mind's  eye  picture  of  the  ministerial  life  of  the  Founder 
of  Buddhism ;  indeed,  the  general  indications  of  time  are 
so  wonderfully  precise  that  we  can  trace  his  labours  year 
by  year  for  quite  one-half  of  the  forty-six  years  which  his 
ministry  occupied.  There  is  a  gap  of  about  fifteen  years 
near  the  end  of  his  career  for  which  we  have  no  precise 
sequence  of  events ;  but  even  here  we  are  not  left  entirely 
in  the  dark,  for  there  are  many  indications  given  of  the 
troublous  days  through  which  India  in  general,  and  the 
Buddhist  community  in   particular,  was   then  passing.^ 

>  Northern  Buddhists  assign  to  the  closing  years  of  this  period  of 
silence  the  pronouncement  of  two  or  three  most  important  Sutras. 
The  "  Saddharmapundarika  Sutra  "  is  said  to  have  taken  seven  years 
to  deliver  in  its  fulness,  and  (as  V7e  have  seen)  the  three  Sutras  relating 
to  the  Mercies  and  Vow  of  Amitabha  are  all  ascribed  to  this  period. 
It  is  hard  to  believe  that  they  can  all  have  come  from  the  same  mouth 
at  about  the  same  time,  for  in  the  one  set  Amitabha  is  exalted  to  the 
highest  of  all  places ;  in  the  other,  he  occupies  only  a  very  inferior 
position.  It  seems  certain  that  these  Sutras  in  their  present  form 
were  not  composed  until  long  after  S'akyamuni's  time.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  in  the  case  of  Yaidehi,  the  Queen  of  Bimbisara,  S'akya> 
muni  may  actually  have  pointed  the  distressed  lady  to  the  Mercies 
of  Amitabha.  That  amongst  the  Kshatriyas  many  monotheistic  ideas 
were  afloat  about  the  period  of  S'akyamimi's  activity  seems  very  probable. 
The  worship  given  by  the  Bhagavatis  to  Krishna  Vasudeva,  which  Dr. 
Grierson  has  treated  of  in  J.B.A.S.,  is  very  much  akin  to  the  cult  of 


BUDDHA  AND  HIS  GREATEST  DISCIPLE     19 

"We  are  shown  the  successes  which  attended  on  S'akya- 
muni's  first  preaching.  Conversions  were  numerous  and 
rapid,  converts  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes  flocked  into  his 
community  from  every  class  of  society,  and  were  welcomed 
without  distinction  of  caste  and  rank.  Thousands  caught 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  Buddha,  and  left  all  to  follow  him, 
while  in  the  crowds  who  felt  no  vocation  to  the  monastic 
life  were  kings  and  merchants,  who  vied  with  each  other 
in  the  generosity  of  their  gifts. 

Among  all  these  varied  personages  S'akyamuni  moves 
like  a  king  among  men.  Bimbisara  recognizes  the  king- 
ship that  is  in  him,  and  offers  to  make  him  the  Crown  Prince 
of  the  Magadhan  kingdom,  S'akyan  noblemen  herald  him 
as  the  teacher  and  saint  of  their  clan ;  and  the  universal 
esteem  in  which  he  is  held  is  shown  by  nothing  more 
strikingly  than  by  the  settlement  of  a  dispute  about  rights 
of  water  which  is  referred  to  his  arbitration  by  the  tribes 
concerned.  Evidently,  the  historical  Tathagata  was  a 
practical  person,  far  removed  from  the  ecstatic  dreamer  of 
the  Hokekyo.^ 

Ptcligious  India  had  need  of  a  sound  mind  with  a 
practical  bent,  for  the  times  were  fraught  with  evil. 
"Wars  and  rumours  of  war  vexed  the  minds  of  the  people  ; 
there  was  civil  strife  in  Magadha,  and  sounds  of  more 
distant  thunder  came  rolling  over  from  Western  Asia. 
All  these  hindered  "  the  running  of  the  wheel ; "  so  did 

Amitabha.  Clearly  such  conceptions  as  the  unity  of  the  Godhead  and 
salvation  by  faith  were  known  in  India  at  a  very  early  date.  The 
troubles  in  Magadha,  the  civil  wars  which  ended  in  the  destruction  of 
Kapilavastu,  as  well  as  some  of  the  conspiracies  against  S'akyamuni's 
life,  all  fall  into  this  "  period  of  silence."  Beyond  the  limits  of  India 
all  Asia  was  in  the  excitement  of  the  great  preparations  for  the  expedi- 
tion of  Xerxes  against  Greece.  Dr.  Maeda,  in  the  appendix  to  '•  Bukkyo 
Seiten,"  gives  a  very  convenient  chronology  of  S'akyamuni's  life,  which 
is  probably,  however,  based  on  the  work  of  Western  scholars. 

^  This  is  the  Japanese  name  for  the  "  Saddharmapundarika  Sutra." 


20    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

also  the  conflicts  with  heretics,  the  dissensions  among 
the  disciples,  and  the  many  breaches  of  discipline 
which  weakened  the  strength  and  vigour  of  his  Buddhist 
followers. 

S'akyamuni  was  a  brave  man  and  strong,  but  he  felt 
the  dissensions  among  his  disciples  most  keenly,  and  there 
were  many  moments  in  which  he  sank  into  the  lowest  pit 
of  despondency,  and  which  his  biographers  have  described 
as  conflicts  with  the  Evil  One.  These  conflicts  came  at 
many  periods  in  his  life;  they  cannot  be  said  to  have 
shortened  his  days,  for  he  lived  to  be  over  eighty,  but  they 
were  evidently  the  result  of  the  sorrows  and  anxieties 
which  embittered  the  later  years  of  his  life.^ 

The  end  had  probably  been  drawing  on  for  some  time ; 
strange  to  say,  it  was  hastened  by  a  meal  of  dried  boar's 
flesh,  of  which  he  partook  in  the  house  of  Chanda,  the 
blacksmith — a  proof  that  abstinence  from  flesh  cannot 
have  been  an  integral  portion  of  the  early  rules  of  Bud- 
dhism.^ His  death  has  been  very  touchingly  described 
in  the  "  Sutra  of  the  Great  Decease,"  which  gives  us  also 

'  I  have  heard  a  Buddhist  preacher  draw  a  contrast  between  Buddha 
and  Christ.  The  latter,  he  said,  lived  all  His  life  in  the  midst  of 
enemies  who  were  constantly  seeking  opportunities  to  destroy  Him. 
He  was  therefore  perpetually  in  an  atmosphere  of  suspicion,  fear,  and 
danger,  and  the  quiet  and  repose  which  are  so  necessary  for  the  teacher 
of  religion,  and  which  were  so  conspicuous  a  feature  in  the  life  of 
S'akyamuni,  were  lacking  in  the  case  of  Christ.  But  a  perusal  of  S'akya- 
muni's  life,  as  it  is  given,  e.g.,  in  the  pages  of  Kern's  scholarly  work 
on  Buddhism,  tends  to  show  that  Buddha  was  a  fighter  quite  as  much 
as  was  our  Lord  or  St.  Paul,  and  that  there  was  in  his  ministerial 
life  just  as  little  of  rest  and  quietude  as  there  was  for  Christ  during 
His  three  years  of  similar  activities. 

*  The  doctrine  of  transmigration  is  given  as  one  of  the  reasons 
for  abstinence  from  animal  food.  If  S'akyamuni  on  this  occasion 
deliberately  partook  of  boar's  flesh,  it  will  strengthen  the  position 
taken  up  by  many  that  the  Twelvefold  Chain  of  Causation  implies, 
not  transmigration  or  re-birth,  but  heredity. 


BUDDHA  AND  HIS  GREATEST  DISCIPLE     21 

his  last  words  to  his  disciples,  as  well  as  the  account 
of  his  obsequies.  The  extent  of  his  influence  and  the 
high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  throughout  Central 
Asia  are  shown  by  the  eagerness  with  which  the  sur- 
rounding tribes  craved  for  a  portion  of  his  cremated  bones 
for  purposes  of  reverence  and  adoration. 

The  evidence  to  hand  seems  to  show  that  it  was  the 
strong  rulincr  hand  of  the  master  that  alone  was  able  to 
preserve  the  unity  of  the  large  number  of  his  disciples  and 
followers  in  his  later  years.  The  Tathagata  had  been 
attended  during  his  last  moments  by  the  well-beloved 
Ananda,  the  disciple  who  had  for  some  time  been  acting  as 
his  private  secretary  and  coadjutor ;  Kasyapa,  the  most 
weighty  of  all  the  Sthaviras,  or  Seniors,  did  not  arrive  in 
time  to  see  his  master  again  in  life.  When  a  Council  was 
summoned  at  Eajagriha  soon  after  the  interment,  it  was 
Kasyapa  who  took  the  chair,  whilst  Ananda,  in  spite 
of  his  intimate  relations  with  the  master,  found  himself  at 
first  excluded  altogether  (Kern,  "  Buddhism,"  vol.  ii.  p. 
239).  There  is  a  northern  tradition  of  a  rival  Council 
held  outside  the  Grotto,  whilst  the  official  Council  within 
was  pursuing  its  labours.^   Other  traditions  (see  Kern,  I.e.) 

•  In  "  Bukkyo  Kakushu  Koyo  "  (vol.  i.  fol.  1  and  2),  a  semi-official 
manual  of  Buddhism  published  in  Tokyo  in  the  twenty-second  year 
of  Meiji  (1889),  mention  is  made  of  three  Councils,  one  within  the 
grotto  (^  r|»)  at  Rajagriha,  consisting  of  500  arhats  under  the 
presidency  of  Kasyapa,  which  drew  up  the  Canon  of  three  Pitakas ; 
another  outside  the  Grotto  (^  ^),  at  which  Bashika  (^  ^  ^) 
and  others  drew  up  a  Canon  of  five  Pitakas ;  and  again  a  third,  a 
Covmcil  of  the  Mahayana,  under  the  presidency  of  Ananda  and  Maitreya 
(not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Buddha  of  the  Future).  The  two 
Hinayana  Councils  represent  the  Sthavira  and  Mahasanghika  respec 
tively ;  the  third  is  possibly  an  invention  of  later  times,  fabricated  as 
a  means  of  accounting  for  the  existence  of  the  Northern  or  Mahayana 
Canon.  This  account  is  based  on  Hiouen  Thsang  (Kem).  The  five 
Pitakas  will  be  foxmd  in  Nanjo's  catalogue.  They  comprise  nothing 
but  Mahayana  Sutras  (no  Vinaya  or  Abhidharma),  there  being  in  the 


22  THE   CREED  OF   HALF  JAPAN 

make  the  exclusion  of  Ananda  from  the  official  Council  to 
have  been  but  temporary,  but  the  fact  remains  that 
the  successions  of  Patriarchs  in  north  and  south  were 
from  the  very  beginning  different.  Both  successions 
begin  with  Kasyapa,  but  both  assign  to  him  only  a  short 
tenure  of  office.  He  was  an  old  man,  older  than  S'akyamuni, 
and  most  probably  died  soon  after  his  master.  After 
Kasyapa,  we  have,  in  the  south,  Upali  the  Barber,  who 
recited  the  Vinaya-pitakam;  then  Dasaka,  Sonaka,  Siggava, 
and  Chandavajji,  and  Tishya  Maudgalyayaniputra,  who  is 
said  to  have  presided  over  As' oka's  Council.  In  the  north, 
during  the  same  period,  we  get  Ananda,  the  coadjutor  of 
Buddha  and  the  reciter  of  the  Sutra-pitakam ;  Madhyan- 
tika,  the  Apostle  of  Kashmir ;  S'anavasas,  who  was  present 
at  the  Second  Council,  Upagupta,  who  acted  as  guide  to 
As'oka  when  that  monarch,  in  the  interval  between  his 
conversion  and  his  ordination  to  the  priesthood,  made  a 
tour  of  the  holy  places  ;  ^  and  finally  Dhitika,  who,  during 
the  period  of  missionary  fervour  which  followed  the  Third 
Council  under  As'oka  (possibly  even  independently  of  that 
Council's   authority),   went    into    Turkestan    and    there 

Chinese  Canon  a  special  section  for  the  Hinayana  Sutras,  and  a 
miscellaneous  section  for  Sutras  of  later  addition.  The  five  sections 
are :  (i.)  Prajnaparamita,  22  works ;  (ii.)  Ratna  Kfita,  37  ;  (iii.)  Maha- 
sannipata,  27 ;  (iv.)  Avatamsaka  or  Kegon,  35 ;  and  (v.)  Nirvana,  12. 
It  seems  probable  that  these  sections  represent  each  the  books  cultivated 
by  a  particular  school,  sect,  or  country,  and  that  they  have  thus  been 
grouped  together  so  as  to  preserve  the  characteristic  features  of  the 
different  schools.  Thus  the  Amitabha  books  fall  entirely  into  the 
Ratnakiita  class,  etc.  Strange  to  say,  the  Saddharmapundarika,  which 
plays  so  important  a  part  in  Japanese  Buddhism,  is  classed  among  the 
miscellaneous  Sutras  of  later  addition. 

'  According  to  the  Record  of  the  Transmission  of  the  Dharmapitaika 
(Nanjo  Cat.  Trip.,  No.  1340),  both  Dhitika  and  his  successor  Micchaka 
laboured  in  Turkestan,  their  activities  coming  somewhat  after  the  times 
of  As'oka. 


BUDDHA  AND  HIS  GREATEST  DISCIPLE    23 

became  a  successful  apostle  of  Buddhism.*  The  two  lists 
have  no  names  in  common,  except  the  first,  and  the 
northern  histories  ignore  As'oka's  Council.  The  inference 
seems  to  be  a  legitimate  one,  that  north  and  south  were 
independent  of  one  another. 

A  second  Council  (for  we  must  consider  the  meetings 
at  Rajagriha  to  have  constituted  but  one  Council)  was 
held  at  Vaisali  just  about  one  hundred  years  after  the 
Parinirvana  of  the  Master  to  settle  some  questions  of 
discipline  which  had  arisen  within  the  community  of 
monks.  Was  it  permissible  for  the  monks  to  keep  a  little 
salt  in  a  horn,  in  case  the  food  supplied  by  the  charitable 
should  contain  none  ?  Was  it  permissible  to  dine  after 
midday,  when  the  sun  cast  shadows  more  than  two  inches 
in  length  ?  Was  it  permissible  for  brethren  belonging  to 
the  same  community  to  keep  the  sabbaths  separately  ? 
Might  the  brethren  drink  palm-wine,  sit  on  elaborate 
cushions,  handle  gold  and  silver,  etc.  ?  ^  These  and 
similar  questions  were  brought  before  the  Council  of 
Vaisali  by  the  monks  of  Vaisali,  who  maintained  their 
lawfulness.  We  can  see  how  strong  was  the  current  of 
party  feeling  from  the  question  about  the  sabbath.  The 
opposing  parties  could  evidently  no  longer  meet  together 
for  the  joint  celebration  of  the  customary  observances,  and 
the  tension  between  the  monks  of  the  east  and  west  was 
very  great.  A  leading  part  in  the  Synod  was  taken 
(Kern,  vol,  ii.  p.  248)  by  Yasas,  whose  identification  with 
S'anavasas,  the  Mahayana  patriarch,  would,  if  accepted,^ 

*  This  tour,  according  to  the  Chinese  (see  Prof.  Pelliot  in  Bulletin 
de  Vtlcole  Fran^aise  dc  VExtr&me  Orient),  extended  as  far  as  to  Wu-tai- 
shan  in  North  China,  the  traditional  home  of  the  mythological  Man- 
jufiri. 

*  These  are  technically  known  as  the  Ten  Indulgences. 

*  Whilst  some  traditions  seem  to  identify  the  two,  the  authorities 
quoted  by  Kern  treat  them  as  distinct  persons,  and  represent  Ya^s  as 


24    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

show  that  the  breach  between  Hinayana  and  Mahayana 
was  not  yet  definitely  recognized.  The  decision  went 
ajrainst  the  Vaisali  monks,  who  seem  to  have  belonged 
chiefly  to  the  proud  Vrijji  clan  of  S'akyans,  and  from  that 
moment  Buddhism  began  to  be  hopelessly  shattered  by 
ever-increasing  schisms  and  divisions.^ 

Before  a  third  Council  was  summoned,  India  had 
undergone  the  shock  of  invasion,  and  Alexander's  vic- 
torious arms  had  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Punjaub.  The 
immediate  effect  on  Buddhism  of  the  Macedonian  invasion 
was  not  so  great  as  might  be  imagined .^  When  the  Greek 
armies  came  to  a  check  in  the  Punjaub,  there  were  still 
several  hundreds  of  unconquered  miles  between  them 
and  the  kingdom  of  Magadha.  The  strictly  Hellenistic 
influences  came  later:  the  immediate  effect  lay  in  the 
shock  and  terror  with  which  the  weak  princelets  and 
peoples  of  India  must  have  viewed  the  advancing  invader, 
and  the  despair  which  must  have  paralyzed  every  one. 
With  the  sole  exception  of  King  Porus,  there  does  not 

appesiling  to  S'anavaSas  for  his  advice  and  assistance.  But  the  accounts 
are  hopelessly  inconsistent  and  confusing.  Kdla  As'oka  was  the  king 
under  whom  the  Council  met. 

>  Murakami,  in  his  "  Handbook  of  Buddhism,"  gives  the  18  Hina- 
yana sects  immediately  after  the  Second  Council.  A  fuller  list  will  be 
fo\md  in  J.B.A.S.  for  January,  1892,  p.  5.  It  is  impossible  and  un- 
advisable  to  burden  the  memory  with  what  are  after  all  mere  names, 
though  some  of  the  sects,  the  Dharmaguptas,  for  instance,  and  the 
Sarvastivadins,  appear  frequently  in  Chinese  Buddhism.  The  followers 
of  the  two  Vehicles  lived  side  by  side  for  several  centuries  after  Christ : 
sometimes  we  have  cases  of  a  teacher  following  the  Mahayana  in  his 
theological  speculations,  and  the  Hinayana  in  his  tenets  on  discipline. 

*  It  would  almost  seem  as  though,  in  the  interval  between  the 
Parinirvana  of  S'akyamuni  and  the  accession  of  As'oka,  Buddhism  in 
India  had  lost  a  great  deal  of  ground,  and  that  it  was  the  patronage  of 
As'oka  only  that  saved  S'akyamuni  from  the  oblivion  which  befel 
his  predecessors  in  the  Buddhaship.  Megasthenes  describes  Brahmanic 
religious  rites  and  life,  but  is  practically  silent  about  Buddhism. 


BUDDHA  AND  HIS  GREATEST  DISCIPLE    25 

seem  to  have  been  a  single  native  prince  of  any  power 
or  weight,  and  the  kingdom  of  Magadha  was  especially 
helpless  under  the  rule  of  the  effeminate  Nanda  dynasty. 
A  mere  adventurer,  the  son  of  a  barber,  who  had  found 
his  way  to  Alexander's  camp,  conceived  the  bold  idea  of 
raising  himself  to  the  throne  which  its  feeble  occupants 
left  practically  unprotected.  After  trying  in  vain  to 
engage  Alexander  in  further  enterprises,  Chandragupta 
bided  his  time  till  the  conqueror's  death  gave  him  the 
opportunity  for  action.  Then  a  successful  mutiny  made 
liim  master  of  the  Punjaub,  the  possession  of  which  secured 
for  him  the  command  of  the  necessary  sinews  of  war. 
A  few  months  later  we  see  him  master  of  Magadha,  with 
a  capital  at  Pataliputra  aud  dominions  extending  from 
the  mouths  of  the  Ganges  to  the  Indus,  from  the  Hima- 
layas to  the  Vindhya.  Chandragupta  was  the  founder  of 
the  so-called  Mauryan  dynasty ;  he  first  defied  Seleucus 
Nicator,  and  then  entered  into  an  alliance  with  him, 
compacted  by  a  marriage  with  the  Greek  king's  daughter. 
It  was  to  his  court  that  Megasthenes  ^  was  sent  as  minister 
resident  of  the  Seleucid  monarch,  and  it  is  to  Megasthenes 
that  Europe  owes  its  first  just  notions  of  India.  Chandra- 
gupta was  not  a  Buddhist,  and  he  has  no  importance  for 
the  historian  of  religions.  He  is,  nevertheless,  a  personage 
far  too  weighty  to  be  passed  over  without  mention. 

Chandragupta's  grandson  was  the  celebrated  As'oka, 
who  changed  Buddhism  from  the  form  of  belief  adopted 
by  a  few  unimportant  tribes  in  Central  India  to  a  creed 
of  world-wide  importance.  Chandragupta  (b.c.  320-297) 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Bindusara  (297-272),  a  sovereign 
of  whom  very  little  is  known  beyond  the  fact  that  he 
extended  his  dominions  considerably ;  that,  whilst  he  was 

•  Megasthenes  was  the  author  of  a  book,  still  extant,  which  gives  a 
very  detailed  account  of  the  life  at  the  court  of  Chandragupta, 


26  THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

on  the  throne,  the  King  of  Egypt  sent  an  embassy,  under 
a  certain  Dionysus,  to  Pataliputra;  and  that  on  one 
occasion  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Antiochus,  King  of  Syria, 
asking  to  have  a  professor  of  Greek  sent  to  him.  Greek 
writers  speak  of  him  as  'Ajutr/ooxarijc,  a  name  which 
suggests  that  he  adopted  the  Sanskrit  title  Amitraglmti, 
"  the  slayer  of  his  foes."  He  was  succeeded  in  B.C.  272 
by  his  son  As'oka,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  rulers  of 
India.  Of  As'oka  we  know  that  in  his  early  days  he  bore 
anything  but  a  good  reputation;  indeed,  it  was  said  of 
him  that,  like  a  traditional  Oriental  potentate,  he  waded 
to  the  throne  through  the  blood  of  his  near  kinsmen  and 
their  friends.  His  coronation,  for  some  unknown  reason, 
was  deferred  for  some  two  or  three  years  after  his  accession, 
a  fact  which  inclines  us  to  believe  that  in  the  early  years 
of  his  reign  he  may  have  met  with  a  good  deal  of  opposi- 
tion. In  B.C.  261  he  was  engaged  in  a  successful  war 
with  the  Kalingas  in  southern  India,  a  war  so  full  of 
horrors  and  misery  that  the  contemplation  of  it  filled  the 
conqueror  with  remorse  and  pity,  and  caused  his  con- 
version, not  necessarily  to  Buddhism,  but  at  any  rate  to 
religion.  He  soon  took  political  measures  for  acquainting 
his  subjects  with  his  change  of  views ;  and  he  has  left  us 
a  series  of  edicts,  inscribed  on  rocks  and  pillars  in  different 
parts  of  India,  which  give  us  our  best  insight  into  the 
character  of  his  religious  aspirations.  Whatever  his  re- 
ligious views  were,  he  was  not  ashamed  to  publish  them 
abroad,  for  he  sent  embassies^  to  many  of  the  leading 
^  Those  embassies  must  have  been  sent  in  the  early  part  of  his  reign, 
Boon  after  his  conversion  to  religion.  One  of  the  kings  thus  approached 
was  ISIagas,  King  of  Gyrene,  who  died  in  B.C.  258.  One  can  see  a 
possible  reason  for  the  alliancei  between  As'oka  and  Antiochus  Theos  in 
the  fact  that  the  year  B.C.  256,  in  which  it  was  concluded,  also  saw  the 
establishment  of  the  Parthian  kingdom  of  the  Arsacides,  and  the  revolt 
of  Bactria  under  Diodotus,  In  such  a  crisis  the  friendship  of  As'oka, 
who  was  practically  sole  ruler  of  Hindustan  (as  may  be  gathered  from 


BUDDHA  AND  HIS  GREATEST  DISCIPLE    27 

Hellenic  sovereigns  of  Western  Asia,  and  the  treaty  of 
amity  which  he  concluded  with  Antiochus  Theos  in  B.C.  256 
must  have  given  him  a  much-desired  opportunity  for 
impressing  his  beliefs  on  the  Hellenic  mind. 

By  the  year  249  his  mind  was  turning  definitely 
towards  the  acceptance  of  the  teachings  of  S'akyamuni  in 
preference  to  those  of  any  other  of  the  religious  teachers 
who  laid  claim  to  the  allegiance  of  religious  India.  He 
went  on  a  solemn  pilgrimage  to  the  sacred  places  of  India 
with  Upagupta,  the  patriarch  of  the  Northern  School,  as 
his  guide,  and  the  sight  of  the  Lumbini  grove,  where 
S'akyamuni  was  born,  of  Bodhigaya,  where  he  attained 
to  Enlightenment,  of  Benares,  where  the  Wheel  of  the 
Law  was  set  in  motion,  and  of  the  Sacred  Grove,  in  which 
he  died,  moved  him  apparently  to  a  further  step.  In  240 
he  was  ordained  as  a  monk,  and  in  the  Bhabhra  Edict, 
dated  soon  after  that,  he  proclaimed  himself  definitely  as 
a  Buddhist.  Between  As'oka's  ordination  and  his  death 
(which  Vincent  Smith  assigns  to  B.C.  231)  must  be  placed 
his  Council,  the  data  for  which  are  so  confusing  that 
writers  like  Kern  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it 
never  took  place  at  all,  but  was  a  mere  figment  of  chrono- 
logists  and  history-writers  of  the  Southern  School. 
Northern  Buddhism,  it  is  true,  knows  nothing  of  As'oka's 
Council,  but  there  is  nothing  in  this  fact  to  justify  a 
denial  of  its  having  taken  place.  It  is  probable  that  the 
Council  took  place,  and  that  it  was  an  effort  on  As'oka's  part 
to  procure  reforms  of  abuses  which  had  crept  in  during  the 
230  years  which  had  elapsed  since  the  death  of  the  Founder. 
Tt  is  also  reasonable  to  suppose  that  he  labom-ed  at  the 
Council  for  the  promotion  of  those  views  which  he  had  so 
persistently  advocated  in  the  long  succession  of  rock  edicts. 

the  locations  of  the  inscriptions),  most  have  been  of  paramount  import- 
ance to  the  Seleucid  government. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Pre-Christian  Expansion  of  Buddhism 

The  great  As'oka,  king  of  Maghada,  the  Constantine  of 
Indian  and  Ceylonese  Buddhism,  has  no  ofi&cial  place, 
as  I  have  said,  in  the  history  of  the  Mahayana,  which 
takes  absolutely  no  notice  of  the  Council  that  is  said  to 
have  been  held  during  his  reign.  The  Council  naturally 
concerned  only  those  monks  that  lived  within  As'oka's 
extensive  dominions ;  the  Mahayana  seems  to  have 
originated  beyond  the  Indus,  among  people,  possibly,  o 
Indian  origin,  but  still  not  subjects  of  any  purely  Indian 
state. 

Yet  As'oka  is  of  importance  in  the  study  of  the 
Mahayana.  For,  first,  he  enables  us  to  correct  a  great 
error  as  to  S'akyamuni's  date,  still  commonly  made  by 
many  of  the  ofl&cial  defenders  of  Buddhism  in  Japan. 
The  Mahayana  books  place  the  date  of  S'akyamuni's  birth 
in  B.C.  1027,  and  his  death,  consequently,  about  B.C.  950 
— a  chronological  misstatement  which  vitiates  all  their 
other  calculations.  For  if  this  be  true,  then  Asvaghosha, 
who  lived  500  years  after  the  Nirvana,  and  Nagarjuna, 
who  lived  in  the  sixth  century  after  the  same  occurrence, 
must  be  supposed  to  have  flourished  respectively  about  the 
years  B.C.  450  and  400,  and  the  whole  Mahayana  system 
predates  the  Christian  era  by  some  centuries.^ 

*  It  is  said  that  the  falsification  of  the  date  was  made  in  China, 
where  the  Buddhists  were  anxious  to  show  that  their  religion  was  much 


EXPANSION   OF   BUDDHISM  29 

Fortunately  As'oka  is  well  known  to  us,  not  only  from 
books,  but  also  from  the  edicts  which  he  has  left  engraved 
in  stone  in  various  parts  of  his  former  dominions,  and  the 
data  thus  furnished  enable  us  to  give  both  As'oka's  exact 
year,  and  approximately  that  of  S'akyamuni's  entrance  into 
Nirvana.  From  the  materials  at  hand,  Dr.  Fleet  ^  has 
been  able  to  j&x  the  dates  for  the  principal  events 
between  the  death  of  Buddha  and  that  of  As'oka.  We 
may  accept  them  with  confidence.  As'oka  was  anointed 
king  on  the  2oth  of  April,  B.C.  264,  218  years  after  the 
death  of  Buddha,  which  consequently  took  place  in  B.C. 
483 — in  the  interval,  it  is  well  to  remember,  between  the 
battles  of  Marathon  and  Salamis. 

Again,  As'oka's  monuments  give  us  data  whereby  to 
gauge  the  extent  of  his  influence.  Edict  No.  2,  translated 
by  Dr.  V.  A.  Smith,^  is  on  the  subject  of  comforts  for 
men  and  animals,  and  runs  thus :  "  Everywhere  in  the 
dominions  of  King  Priyadarsin,  and  likewise  in  the 
neighbouring  realms,  such  as  those  of  the  Chola,  Pandya, 
Sattyaputra,  and  Keralaputra,  in  Ceylon,  in  the  dominions 
of  the  Greek  king  Antiochus,  and  in  those  of  the  other 
kings  subordinate  to  that  Antiochus — everywhere,  on 
behalf  of  his  Majesty  King  Priyadarsin,  have  two  kinds 
of  remedies  been  disseminated — remedies  for  men,  and 
remedies  for  beasts.  Healing  herbs,  medicinal  for  man 
and  medicinal  for  beasts,  wherever  they  were  lacking, 
have  everywhere   been  imported   and  planted.     On  the 

more  ancient  than  anything  of  native  Chinese  origin,  it  being  claimed 
that  Laotze,  in  particular,  had  borrowed  much  from  S'akyamimi.  It 
may  also  be  that,  supposing  the  Buddhists  of  North- West  India  and 
Afghanistan  to  have  had  any  acquaintance  with  Judaism,  there  may 
also  have  been  a  desire  to  antedate  Isaiah's  prophecy  of  the  Virgin 
Birth.    See  Hultzsch,  ♦'  The  Rupnath  Edict,"  in  J.R.A.S.  for  July,  1909. 

'  Fleet,  "  The  Day  on  which  the  Buddha  died,"  J.B.A.S.,  January, 
1909. 

«  V.  A.  Smith,  "  Asoka,"  pp.  115  ff. 


30    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

roads,  trees  have  been  planted,  and  wells  dug  for  the  use 
of  man  and  beast." 

Edict  No.  5  concerns  the  Censors  of  the  Law  of  Piety : 
"  They  {i.e.  the  Censors)  are  engaged  among  people  of  all 
sects  in  promoting  the  establishment  of  piety,  the  progress 
of  piety,  and  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the  lieges,  as 
well  as  of  the  Yonas,  Kambojas,  Gandharas,  Rashtrikas, 
Pitenikas,  and  other  nations  on  my  borders." 

(c)  Edict.  13  is  on  the  subject  of  the  "  True  Conquest " 
{i.e.  the  Conquest  of  Self)  :  "  Even  upon  the  forest  tribes 
in  his  dominions,  His  Majesty  has  compassion,  and  he 
seeks  their  conversion,  inasmuch  as  the  might  even 
of  His  Majesty  is  based  on  conversion."  ...  [It  has  been 
communicated]  "  even  to  where  the  Greek  King  named 
Antiochus  dwells,  and  beyond  that  Antiochus,  to  where 
dwell  the  four  kings  severally  named  Ptolemy,  Antigonus, 
Magas,  and  Alexander ;  and  in  the  south,  to  the  Kings  of 
the  Cholas,  and  Pandyas,  and  of  Ceylon, — and  likewise 
here,  in  the  King's  dominions,  among  the  Yonas,  and  Kam- 
bojas, in  Nabhaka  of  the  Nabhitis,  among  the  Bhojas  and 
Pitenikas,  among  the  Andhras  and  Palindas,  everywhere 
men  follow  the  law  of  Piety  as  proclaimed  by  His  Majesty. 

"Even  in  those  regions  where  the  envoys  of  His 
Majesty  do  not  penetrate,  men  now  practise  and  will 
continue  to  practise  the  Law  of  Piety.  .  .  . "  ^ 

{d)  Minor  Eock  Edict  No.  1,  if  accurately  translated 
by  Senart,  speaks  of  256  missionaries  who  have  gone 
forth  to  proclaim  the  law.^ 

1  V.  A.  Smith,  "  Asoka,"  p.  132. 

*  Smith  translates  this  Edict  to  the  effect  that  "  256  years  have 
elapsed  since  the  Tathagata,  a  statement  which,  if  correct,  would  make 
S'akyamuni's  death  to  have  been  B.C.  608.  Kern  gives  many  details 
about  these  missionaries  and  their  spheres  of  labour.  I  have  not  dwelt 
at  any  length  on  them,  as  I  think  what  I  have  given  in  the  present 
chapter  will  suffice  for  showing  the  expansion  of  Buddhism. 


EXPANSION   OF   BUDDHISM  31 

We  have  here  a  picture  of  As'oka's  missionary  activity. 
It  embraced  his  own  subjects,  those  living  in  his  capital, 
those  living  in  the  remote  provinces  and  dependencies  of 
his  empire  within  India,  the  Yonas  or  immigrant  Greeks, 
the  Cholas,  Pandyas,  and  Andhras,  the  degraded  tribes  of 
the  forests,  the  King  of  Ceylon,  the  Greek  kings  who 
ruled  as  the  Diadochi  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  last, 
but  not  least,  the  unmentioned  lands  to  which  As'oka  had 
sent  no  envoy,  but  in  which  Buddhism  was  nevertheless 
being  actively  and  piously  pursued.  These  sovereigns 
and  peoples  As'oka  addresses,  mainly  on  two  subjects — 
care  for  the  health  and  welfare  of  the  people,  and  "  True 
Conquest "  over  themselves  and  their  passions —  a  lesson 
which  was  surely  not  superfluous  in  those  troublous 
days. 

The  Indian  states  and  peoples  need  not  delay  us  long. 
The  mention  of  Cholas,  Pandyas,  etc.,  serves  to  show  how 
widely  spread,  in  India  itself,  was  the  Buddhist  faith 
which  As'oka  strove  to  promote  and  reform.  Nor  need 
we  linger  over  Ceylon.^  That  island  is  said  to  have  owed 
its  conversion  to  the  labours  of  Mahendra,  the  son  or  son- 
in-law  of  As'oka,  and,  whoever  may  have  been  its  apostle, 
it  has  remained  true  to  the  faith  which  it  then  received. 
The  mention  of  the  Yonas  or  Yavanas  (i.e.  the  lonians  or 
Greeks ;  we  have  the  authority  of  Aristophanes  that  by 
the  Oriental  the  name  "  Greek  "  was  pronounced  laonau, 
which  is  very  near  to  Yavana)  is  a  little  ambiguous ;  for 
it  may  refer  to  the  Greek  kingdom  of  Bactria,  which  set 
up  for  itself  a  few  years  after  the  publication  of  the  earlier 

1  Japanese  writers  assert  that  Buddhism  was  preached  at  this  time 
in  Further  India  and  Burma.  There  is  nothing  in  As'oka's  inscriptions 
to  justify  this  assertion,  for  the  Kamboja  mentioned  there  have  nothing 
to  do  with  Cambodja.  The  list  given  in  the  Singhalese  books  (see 
Kern,  ii.  287)  of  the  apostles  sent  forth  after  As'oka's  Council  is  some- 
what vague  in  its  statements. 


32    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Rock  Edicts,  or  it  may  refer  to  the  Greek  merchants 
trading  and  travelling  in  India,  whose  votive  inscriptions 
have  been  found  in  ancient  Buddhist  temples  in  the 
peninsula.  It  is  possible,  though  we  cannot  make  a 
positive  assertion  on  the  point,  that  some  of  the  nations 
on  his  borders,  to  whom  As'oka  refers,  may  have  dwelt  on 
the  frontiers  of  what  in  later  times  became  the  Parthian 
kingdom. 

The  ruler  of  Syria  at  the  time  when  As'oka  published 
his  Edicts  was  Antiochus  II.  (Theos),  the  unfortunate 
monarch  who  inherited  the  splendour  but  not  the  genius 
of  his  more  illustrious  father,  Antiochus  I.  (Soter).  He 
had  only  just  come  to  the  throne  when  the  Edicts  contain- 
ing his  name  were  published,  and  we  must  therefore, 
I  believe,  refer  the  allusions  to  the  state  of  the  Syrian 
Kingdom  to  his  father's  reign  rather  than  to  his  own. 
It  was  to  Antiochus  I.  that  As'oka  had  applied  for 
assistance  as  to  medical  herbs  and  trees,  and  whom  he 
had  consulted  as  to  wells  and  fountains  in  streets  and  by 
roadsides,  and  for  trees  to  give  shade  to  man  and  beast. 
In  Antiochus  I.,  the  Founder  of  Cities  (the  Syrian  kingdom 
was  dotted  over  with  them),  many  bearing  his  name,  and 
one  of  them,  Antioch  in  Syria,  justly  famed  as  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  cities  of  the  ancient  world,  As'oka's  request 
would  find  a  sympathetic  welcome.  The  ideas  of  municipal 
and  civil  government  encouraged  by  Antiochus  Soter  were 
just  such  as  would  commend  themselves  to  As'oka.  How 
far  Antiochus  profited  by  As'oka's  suggestions,  we  cannot 
say,  but  Antiochus  styled  himself  (iamXtvQ  j3a<r(Xtwv,  and 
amongst  his  "  subordinate  kings  "  mentioned  in  the  Edict 
on  "  creature  comforts "  were  Philetjerus  (B.C.  281-263) 
of  Pergamus,  Nicomedes  of  Bithynia,  and,  for  a  short 
while,  Magas  of  Cyrene,  who  was  availing  himself  of 
assistance  from  Antiochus  in  a  revolt  against  Egyptian 


EXPANSION   OF   BUDDHISM  33 

suzerainty.  In  the  wars  which  Antiochus  I.  waged  against 
the  Gauls  and  Celts,  who  had  invaded  Asia  Minor  at  the 
invitation  of  Nicomedes,  a  rebel  against  the  suzerainty  of 
the  "  King  of  Kings,"  he  had  used  elephants,  which  he, 
like  his  contemporary,  Pyrrhus  of  Epirus,  had  obtained  ^ 
from  As' oka's  father,  Bindusara,  King  of  Magadha,  a 
favour  which,  it  may  be,  As'oka  was  expected  to  continue 
in  the  case  of  Antiochus  II.  The  kings  of  Pergamus  were 
famous  for  their  collections  of  books  and  parchments  (the 
latter  a  pergamene  substitute  for  the  papyrus  which  the 
Egyptian  government  would  not  allow  to  be  exported) ; 
also  for  the  botanical  gardens  of  medicinal  herbs,  which 
antedated  the  more  famous  collections  of  Alexandria,  into 
which  they  were  afterwards  merged ;  and  Cyrene  was 
noted,  the  whole  world  over,  for  a  medicinal  plant  called 
silphium  (a  kind  of  asafcetida),  which  formed  one  of  the 
staple  articles  of  its  extensive  commerce.  The  plant  was 
almost  extinct  in  the  West  in  Pliny's  time  (though  it  is 
still,  I  believe,  to  be  found  in  India),^  but  it  is  to  be  found 
engraven  on  the  coins  of  Cyrene  as  the  emblem  of  the 
city,  and  there  has  been  found  a  silver  cup  from  Cyrene, 
with  a  representation  of  the  king  himself  personally 
superintending  the  packing,  weighing,  and  dispatching  of 
the  precious  herb.^  We  can  imagine  that  Antiochus  Soter 
would  have  much  pleasure  in  forwarding  As'oka's  memo- 
randum touching  medicinal  herbs  to  his  subordinate  kings. 
We  can  also  imagine  that  Antiochus  II.,  who  surnamed 
himself  "the  Grod,"  would  not  be  equally  pleased  to 
receive  the  sermon  about  the  "  True  Conquest."  And  yet 
As'oka  would  have  us  believe  that  the  Dharma  was  being 

'  There  was  absolutely  no  other  monarch  in  the  world  from  whom 
elephants  could  be  obtained. 

*  And,  significantly  enough,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  ancient 
Pataliputra,  according  to  the  "  Encyclopsedia  of  India." 

'  See  Haeser,  "  Geschichte  der  Medizin,"  vol.  i.  p.  101. 

D 


34    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

observed  and  practised  in  the  territories  of  the  Syrian 
king.  Stoicism  was  already  a  power  in  the  world  of 
philosophy  and  morals,  and  Stoicism  is  notoriously  a  semi- 
oriental  mode  of  thought.^ 

Antigonus  Gonatas,  King  of  Macedonia,  claimed 
possession  of  the  European  dominions  of  Alexander  the 
Great.  Macedonia  must  have  been  full  of  men  who  had 
been  in  Central  Asia  and  India  in  those  days  of  constant 
coming  and  going,  and  there  must  have  been  a  great 
interest  taken  in  things  Indian.  When  Alexander  took 
Babylon,  he  had  the  books  in  the  library  sent  to  his  old 
tutor  Aristotle,  who,  we  may  be  sure,  appreciated  the  gift, 
and  found  some  way  of  discovering  the  contents  of  the 
books  before  they  reached  their  final  resting-place  in  the 
library  of  Alexandria.  One  of  Alexander's  successors, 
Cassander,  who  thoroughly  disapproved  of  Alexander's 
policy  of  adopting  Oriental  habits  and  ways  of  life,  had, 
living  at  his  court,  a  philosopher  named  Euhemerus,  who 
had  travelled  in  Asia,  at  Cassander's  request,  and  had 
returned  with  stories  which  had  gained  for  him  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  liar.  And  yet  much  that  Euhemerus  related 
accurately  described  what  must  have  been  going  on  in 
Buddhism  at  the  time  of  his  visit.  The  island  of  Panchaia 
may  have  been  an  Utopia ;  the  history  of  the  earthly  life 
of  Zeus  before  he  became  a  god,  which  he  brought  back 
with  him,  may  have  been  a  fabrication ;  still,  the  process 
described  was  exactly  the  process  which  was  going  on  in 
Buddhism.^     S'akyamuni  had  been  just  such  a  man  as 

*  Kirchner,  "  Geschichte  der  Philosophie,"  p.  137. 

'  MuUach,  "  Pragmenta  Philosophorum  Grsecorum,"  vol.  ii.  (Paris, 
1831).  MQllach  gives  a  passage  from  Sextus  Empiricus  (adv.  Math.  ix. 
17)  :  Ev-f]fiepos  S4  (prjo'iv  •  8t«  ^v  AraicTOS  iydpiivwu  fiios,  oi  ir(piyfv6fi«voi  twv 
&KKo>v  (o'xo't  re  Kal  ffvyeffft  &(Tre  irphs  tA  utt'  avruv  Kf\ev6fiej/a  irduras  fiiovv, 
<rifovii(ovTes  fiflCovos  Oav/xaff/xov  Koi  fff/xvorijTOS  rvx^iv,  avfvKaffay  irtp' 
airoiii     {nrtpPdWovaay    riva    koX    6tlav    Svvafiiv,    (vOa    koX    rots    iroWoTs 


EXPANSION   OF  BUDDHISM  35 

Euhemerus  described.  He  had  towered  high  above  his 
compeers  in  wisdom,  if  not  in  strength,  and  had  possessed 
that  magnetic  influence  which  compelled  men  to  walk 
according  to  his  precepts.  He  had  certainly  demanded 
personal  loyalty  to  himself  from  all  his  followers,  for  he 
had  only  received  them  into  his  Order  after  a  threefold 
expression  of  belief — in  the  Law,  the  Order,  and  the 
Buddha.  His  relics,  divided  up  after  his  death,  had 
become  the  nucleus  around  which  grew  up  the  worship 
of  the  whole  Buddhist  community.  S'akyamuni  was 
undergoing  the  process  of  deification  when  Euhemerus 
visited  India  (indeed,  that  process  may  already  have  been 
popularly  accomplished),  and  the  process  was  already 
being  applied  to  other  Buddhas  as  well.  The  Mahayana 
had  not  yet  taken  definite  form,  but  the  ideas  underlying 
it  were  in  the  air,  and  when,  later,  we  get  our  first  definite 
literary  acquaintance  with,  e.g.  Amitabha,  he  comes  as  a 
god  deified  after  a  long  succession  of  holy  lives,  led  in  the 
fulfilment  of  his  tremendous  vow  for  the  salvation  of 
mankind.  That  the  same  process  was  taking  place  in  the 
case  of  S'akyamuni  himself  may  be  seen  from  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Saddharma  pundariJca  and  kindred  Sutras,^ 
and  from  the  more  certain  testimony  of  Buddhist  art. 
The  process,  in  the  case  of  Buddhism,  may  not  have  been 

4vofj.iffdr)(rap  6eoL  There  is  also  another  quotation  given  from  Eusebius 
("Praep.  Evang.,"  ii.  59)  in  which  Euhemerus  says  that  there  are  some 
deities,  e.g.  Sun,  Moon,  Winds,  etc.,  which  are  atSioi  /cal  icpOaproi, 
but  that  there  are  others  who  are  called  iirlyetoi  deal, 

*  Whilst  I  think  we  must  hold  most  of  the  developed  Sutras  of  the 
Mahayana  (and  certainly  the  Saddharma  pundariha)  to  be  posterior, 
and  in  some  cases  much  posterior,  to  the  Christian  era,  the  process  of 
the  gradual  deification  of  S'akyamuni  may,  I  believe,  be  fairly  inferred 
from  many  of  the  Agama  Sutras  which  record  the  events  of  his  actual 
life.  Certainly,  the  sculptures,  even  of  the  earliest  topes  and  temples 
of  India,  would  have  been  difierent  in  style,  had  it  not  been  that  he,  in 
whose  honour  the  shrines  were  raised,  was  coming  to  be  looked  upon  aa 
more  than  an  ordinary  man. 


36    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

completed  in  the  days  of  Euhemerus ;  it  was  also  going 
on  in  Brahmanism  and  other  forms  of  Indian  religion. 
But  certainly  Euhemerus  described  it  accurately. 

Antigonus  Gonatas  of  Macedon  had  an  ambition, 
which  he  realized,  for  a  while,  after  many  years  of 
conflict,  of  uniting  Greece  and  Macedon  under  one  sceptre. 
He  had  opponents  in  the  Achaean  league,  and  a  rival  in 
Alexander,  the  son  of  that  Pyrrhus  of  Epirus  who  had 
defeated  the  Eomans  with  the  aid  of  elephants  obtained 
from  As'oka's  father,  Bindusara.  Alexander  and  Gonatas 
are  both  mentioned  in  As'oka's  Edict  on  the  "  True  Con- 
quest." We  can  imagine  that  the  peace-loving  As'oka,  who 
was  fully  in  touch  with  what  was  going  on  in  the  West, 
must  have  been  distressed  beyond  measure  at  the  desola- 
tions of  Greece  during  this  period  of  "  False  Conquests." 

I  have  already  mentioned  Magas  of  Cyrene,  in  con- 
nection with  the  medicinal  herbs.  I  need  only  mention, 
as  another  link  in  the  chain  showing  the  extent  of 
Indian  influence  in  the  West,  that  among  the  dialogues 
of  Aristippus,  the  founder  of  the  Cyrenaic  school  of 
philosophy,  there  was  one  which  bore  the  name  of  Porus, 
a  name  well  known  among  Indian  kings.^  Aristippus, 
born  B.C.  435,  was  prior  in  time  to  As'oka,  but  amongst 
the  later  Cyrenaics  was  Hegesias,  surnamed  Peisithanatos, 
from  the  strenuousness  with  which  he  advocated  suicide 
as  the  highest  form  of  self-immolation.  This  is  a  truly 
Buddhistic  notion.  S'akyamuni's  well-beloved  disciple, 
Ananda,  is  said  to  have  ended  his  life  by  voluntaiy  self- 
cremation,  and  the  Saddharma  pundarika  speaks  of  it  as 
the  highest  expression  of  devotion  and  gratitude  from  one 
who  has  learned  the  truth.^ 

•  Diogenes  Laertius,  ii.  83-86,  quoted  by  Miillaoh,  op.  cit.,  p.  403. 

«  Cf .  Saddharma  pundarika  in  "  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  vol,  xxi. 
p.  378,  etc.  The  same  is  affirmed  of  two  more  of  the  patriarchs  of  the 
Northern  Succession. 


EXPANSION   OF   BUDDHISM  37 

The  mention  of  Hegesias  brings  us  to  Alexandria. 
The  ruler  of  Alexandria,  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  is  also 
one  of  the  sovereigns  mentioned  in  As'oka's  Edict.  Phila- 
delphus and  his  predecessor,  Soter,  were  both  much 
concerned  in  carrying  out  Alexander's  great  scheme  of 
effecting  the  Hellenization  of  the  East  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  newly  founded  city  of  Alexandria. 
Alexandria  was  connected  with  India  by  at  least  three 
routes.  A  certain  amount  of  the  overland  traffic  from 
China  came  into  Alexandria  via  Palestine  (which  was  in 
the  Egyptian  sphere  of  influence),  and  even  the  superior 
attractions  of  Antioch  could  not  kill  this  commerce,  which 
was,  however,  more  Central  and  Eastern  Asian  than 
Indian.  A  further  contingent  of  caravans  brought  in 
Indian  goods  via  the  Persian.  Gulf,  Palmyra  (later),  and 
Palestine.  The  Egyptian  ports  on  the  Eed  Sea  had  direct 
communication,  without  any  serious  rivals,  with  the 
Indian  ports  at  the  mouth  of  the  Indus.  The  early 
Ptolemies  took  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  religion.  Soter 
imported  the  god  Serapis  from  Pontus,  and  both  he  and 
Philadelphus  interested  themselves  in  the  (LXX.)  trans- 
lation of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  into  Greek.  They  were 
notoriously  ready  to  welcome  any  new  lights  on  religious 
subjects.  It  is  perhaps,  therefore,  more  than  a  mere 
coincidence  that,  about  the  days  when  As' oka  was  sending 
envoys  to  the  kings  of  Egypt,  and  speaking  of  the  keeping 
of  the  law  in  distant  countries,  we  get — first,  the  so-called 
Hermetic  literature  {e.g.  the  Kopi)  Koa/mov  preserved  for 
us  by  Stobaeus),  with  its  many  Buddhist  echoes ;  ^  and, 
secondly,  the  semi-Buddhistic  communities  of  monks  as 
the  Essenes  and  Therapeutse  described  for  us  by  Philo. 
How  far  Philo  and  Aristobulus,  the  Jew,  may  have  been 

'  Flinders  Petrie.    See  Transactions  of  the  Congress  of  the  History 
of  ReUgions  (Oxford,  1908),  vol.  i.  pp.  185  and  224. 


38  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

influenced  by  Indian  thought  is  an  inquiry  beyond  our 
present  limits.^  But  it  is  evident  that  the  relations, 
tradal  or  otherwise,  between  Alexandria  and  India  were 
close  and  constant.  The  influence  was  not  all  on  one 
side.  Alexandria  had  its  influence  on  Indian  philosophy, 
medicine,  and  mathematics,^  and  a  time  came  when  the 
religions  of  the  Far  East  felt  the  power  of  its  mystic  (not 
to  say  cryptic)  thought.  In  the  mysterious  Shingon 
system  of  Japan,  the  term  "  RA "  occurs  as  the  name  of 
the  deity  of  Fire,  and  the  word  for  God,  Abraxas,  used  by 
Basilides,  is  the  fundamental  conception  of  the  Shingon 
system  of  Philosophy,  which  also  uses  certain  hieratic 
hieroglyphics  for  the  conveyance  of  its  teachings.^ 

It  may  be  asked,  what  precisely  were  the  teachings 
which  As'oka  exerted  himself  to  spread  amongst  other 
nations  and  amongst  his  contemporary  sovereigns  ?  The 
one  conclusive  answer  to  this  question  will  be  found 
in   the   study  of  the  monuments   themselves,  with  the 

•  Cf.  Ueberweg,  "  Hist,  of  Philos.  Jewish  Alexandrian  Philosophy," 
sect.  68. 

'  Cf.  Ibid. ;  and  Haeser's,  "  Geschichte  der  Medizin,"  vol.  i.  p.  103. 

*  I  am  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  give  more  clear  indications  of  the 
source  from  which  I  have  drawn  my  information.  The  Japanese  article 
on  Abraxas,  on  which  I  have  relied,  is  a  long  treatise  of  over  fifty  pages 
in  a  collection  of  Buddhist  essays  entitled  (f^^^fr^^^^) 
and  was  written  by  a  man  who  certainly  had  no  knowledge  of  Egyptian 
history  or  thought.  He  takes  the  word  Abarakakia,  to  which  he  adds  a 
final  syllable  un,  as  representing  the  sum-total  of  the  Universe,  the  Five 
Elements,  with  un  {=  alaya,  the  Spirit).  He  says  that  the  whole  word 
is  sometimes  abbreviated  by  taking  the  first  syllable  A  and  the  last 
syllable  un,  thus  making  A-un  (=  om).  Corresponding  to  the  six 
elements  (including  alaya)  there  are  six  skhandhas,  six  colours,  six 
geometrical  forms,  etc.,  all  of  which  are  expressed  by  six  hieroglyphics, 
which  are  not  Chinese  ideographs,  but  evidently  of  Egyptian  origin. 
Abarakakiun  also  comes  in  certain  Wasan,  or  hymns,  belonging  to 
various  Buddhist  sects.  There  is  an  evident  allusion  to  the  "  Holy 
Name  of  the  Six  Letters."  The  Gnostic  word  Caulaucau  is  also  found 
in  Japanese  Funeral  Bites. 


EXPANSION   OF   BUDDHISM  39 

inscriptions,  that  he  has  left  us.  In  them  we  shall  find 
Buddhism  as  it  existed  in  As'oka's  mind,  and  as  As'oka 
believed  that  it  had  existed  in  the  mind  of  S'akyamuni. 
I  cannot  do  better  than  summarize  the  contents  of  the 
inscriptions. 

I.  In  the  first,  As'oka  speaks  of  his  care  to  provide 
medicines  and  medical  herbs  for  the  use  of  the  sick,  trees 
for  shade,  and  fountains  for  men  and  cattle,  and  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  he  has  done  this  not  only  within 
his  own  dominions,  but  also  in  those  of  his  neighbours, 
e^.  in  the  territories  of  King  Antiochus  and  in  Tapro- 
bane  (Ceylon). 

II.  In  the  second,  he  speaks  of  the  killing  of  animals, 
exhorts  his  subjects  to  abstain  from  such  evil  practices, 
and  explains  his  own  custom.  He  was  once  in  the  habit 
of  allowing  many  animals  to  be  killed  for  the  royal  feasts  : 
during  late  years  the  number  of  animals  thus  killed  has 
been  very  small.  Henceforward,  there  shall  be  no  killing 
of  animals  in  the  royal  kitchens. 

III.  He  exhorts  provincial  and  city  governors,  and  all 
teachers  of  religion,  to  be  diligent  in  inculcating  obedience 
to  parents,  kindliness  and  courtesy,  respect  for  Brahmans 
and  Buddhist  monks,  and  moderation  in  speech  and 
conduct,  upon  all  who  come  under  their  authority. 

IV.  He  speaks  with  gratitude  of  the  good  effects  upon 
the  people  at  large  of  the  religion  which  he  has  been 
teaching  throughout  his  dominions.  He  is  glad  to  find 
that  civic  and  social  virtues,  filial  piety,  respectfulness, 
kindliness,  and  toleration  are  everywhere  on  the  increase. 

V.  In  order  to  spread  further  the  virtues  inculcated 
by  his  religion,  he  appoints  superintendents  of  morals 
for  all  creeds  throughout  his  dominions,  as  well  as  in 
the  neighbouring  countries  of  the  Yavanas,  Kambojas, 
Gandharas,  etc.  (these  were  probably  subject  or  tributary 


40    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

states).  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  superintendents  to 
take  especial  care  of  prisoners  and  captives,  particularly 
when  they  are  married  men  with  families  dependent  on 
them,  or  when  they  have  been  the  victims  of  malice, 
spite,  or  fraud. 

VI.  He  speaks  of  his  constant  care  for  the  welfare  of 
his  people. 

VII.  It  is  his  great  desire  to  secure  religious  liberty 
and  toleration  for  all  religions  practised  within  his 
dominions. 

VIII.  Eoyal  progresses  throughout  the  country  have 
hitherto  been  made  occasions  of  feasting  and  revelry. 
It  is  his  intention  henceforth  to  give  them  a  religious 
character,  and  use  them  for  the  advancement  of  religion 
and  morals. 

IX.  What  is  religion  ?  It  is  the  Way  by  which  men 
learn  to  be  truly  human  and  humane,  and  it  has  its 
stimulus  in  the  hope  of  a  future  life. 

X.  The  hope  of  the  rewards  of  a  future  life  has  been 
the  motive  power  of  his  religious  life.  [N.B. — Nothing 
is  said  about  a  past  Karma  influencing  the  present,  nor 
yet  about  Nirvana  after  death.] 

XI.  True  religion — i.e.  to  help  the  fatherless  and 
widow,  and  to  keep  one's  self  unspotted  from  the  world — 
has  the  promise  of  this  life,  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to 
come. 

XII.  The  sectarian  spirit  should  be  avoided.  We 
should  never  decry  the  followers  of  a  religion  other  than 
our  own.  Nor  should  we  think  that  we  are  serving  our 
own  creed  by  constantly  puffing  it. 

XIII.  A  survey  of  his  own  life.  He  describes  the 
horrors  of  the  war  against  the  Kalingas,  and  his  own 
remorse  when  he  realized  the  cruelties  attendant  upon  it. 
He  resolves  henceforth  to  eschew  the  rdle  of  a  conqueror. 


EXPANSION   OF  BUDDHISM  41 

The  true  conquests  are  those  of  religion.  He  has  com- 
municated his  sentiments  to  his  brother  sovereigns — to 
Antiochus,  Ptolemy,  Antigonus,  Magas,  Alexander  Balas, 
to  the  Codas  and  Pandyas  as  far  as  Taprobane,  and  even 
to  the  King  of  the  Huns.^  It  gives  him  great  happiness 
to  contemplate  the  success  which  has  attended  his  eiforts, 
but  present  contentment  is  as  nothing  when  compared 
with  the  joys  of  future  bliss. 

XIV.  An  abridged  edict  containing  the  points  on 
which  Piyadasi,  the  beloved  of  the  gods,  wishes  to  insist. 
His  empire  is  an  extensive  one,  but  he  has  done  his  best, 
by  means  of  inscriptions,  to  arrange  that  every  part  of  the 
empire  is  provided  with  the  required  moral  teaching. 
He  wishes  all  his  subjects  to  be  acquainted  with  the 
religious  law. 

The  above  fourteen  Edicts  form,  as  it  were,  a  con- 
tinuous series,  and  are  to  be  found  in  several  recensions  in 
several  parts  of  India.  There  are  also  isolated  Edicts, 
the  contents  of  which  are  somewhat  as  follows : — 

1.  a  and  b.  To  the  officials  at  TosaU  and  Samapa, 
urging  them  to  greater  diligence  in  the  care  of  the  people 
committed  to  their  charge,  so  that  those  who  stand  may 
not  fall,  and  those  who  fall  may  be  restored.  The  most 
essential  thing  in  religion  is  perseverance  and  patience 
in  what  is  good.  Of&cials  should  take  care  to  guide  men 
in  the  right  way,  so  that  they  may  live  without  fear  and 
follow  their  religion.  These  edicts  are  to  be  read  publicly 
before  the  people  at  the  monthly  festivals  of  the  full 
moon,  and  privately  whenever  necessary.  His  Majesty 
has  taken  care  to  have  a  solemn  assembly  in  his  own 
territories  every  five  years,  and  the  princes  of  Ujjain  and 
Taxila  will  do  the  same. 

^  Again  see  Prof.  Pelliot's  article  in  Bulletin  de  l'£lcole  Fran^aise  de 
VExtrSme  Orient,  viii.  3-4. 


42    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

2.  The  king  regrets  that  hitherto,  as  a  layman,  he  has 
not  been  very  diligent.  He  has  now,  however,  been  for  a 
year  a  member  of  the  Order,  and  has  worked  with  such 
zeal  during  that  time  that  the  ancient  gods  of  Jambud- 
vipa  (India)  have  been  almost  driven  from  their  places.^ 
It  is  a  great  truth  that  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  really 
within  the  reach  of  all  men,  even  the  humblest,  and  no 
effort  should  be  spared  to  spread  this  Gospel  by  mis- 
sionary labours.  The  King  is  much  gratified  by  the  fact 
that  already  256  missionaries  have  gone  abroad.  [This 
last  sentence  has  been  differently  translated,  as  though  it 
referred  to  the  date  of  the  Edict,  256  after  the  Nirvana  of 
Buddha.] 

3.  [The  Bhabhra  Edict.]  To  the  clergy  of  Magadha. 
All  that  the  Blessed  One  has  said  is  well  said,  and  should 
be  studied  with  reverence.  The  king  especially  com- 
mends the  following  books :  "  Vinayasamukasa,"  book  on 
discipline;  " Aryavasani,"  on  the  supernatural  powers  of 
the  Aryas ;  "  Anagatabhayani,"  on  dangers  to  come  ;  "  Mu- 
nigatha,"  stanzas  in  honour  of  the  Muni ;  "  Upatishya 
pasina,"  questions  of  Upatishya;  "Moneya  sutra,"  Sutra 
on  Perfection ;  and  the  Siitra,  in  which  the  Blessed  One 
instructs  Eahula.^ 

'  For  this  see  Chap.  V.  on  "  Pushyamitra." 
*  Vincent  Smith  translates  these  titles  as  follows : — 
a.  The  Exaltation  of  Discipline. 
/3.  The  Supernatural  Powers  of  the  Aryas. 
A.  Fears  of  what  may  happen. 
S.  The  Song  of  the  Hermit. 
«.  The  Dialogue  on  the  Hermit's  Life. 
C  The  Questioning  of  Upatishya. 

ij.  The  Address  to  Bahula,  beginning  with  the  subject  of  False- 
hood. 
He  points  out  that  these  "  passages  "  have  all  been  identified,  with  the 
exception  of  o,  by  Rhys  Davids  in  J.R.A.S.  for  1898,  p.  639.  It  has 
been  contended  that  these  books  were  not  written,  but  handed  down 
memoriter,  and  recited  by  men  who  knew  them  by  heart.    But  if 


EXPANSION   OF   BUDDHISM  43 

What  I  have  hitherto  said  does  not  by  any  means 
exhaust  the  question  of  the  expansion  of  Buddhism  in 
As'oka's  days,  for,  leaving  aside  the  subject  of  As'oka's 
apostles  sent  forth  by  the  Council,  we  have  also  As'oka's 
own  testimony  as  to  the  countries  in  which  Buddhism  (as 
he  understood  it)  was  practised,  though  his  envoys  had 
never  reached  them. 

In  the  days  of  As'oka  the  Parthians  revolted  against 
Antiochus,  and,  under  the  family  of  the  Arsacidse,  carved 
out  for  themselves  a  small  kingdom  to  the  north  of  the 
Seleucid  Empire.  They  were  by  origin  Sacae  or  Scythians, 
and  their  earlier  home  had  been  in  the  plain  country 
between  the  Caspian  Sea  and  the  Oxus.  Their  religion 
was  that  of  Zoroaster,  or  rather,  perhaps,  that  of  the 
Magi.  What  the  precise  tenets  of  that  religion  were,  it 
is  hard  to  say ;  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  precisely 
those  of  the  Persians  before  the  fall  of  the  Persian  Empire, 
nor  yet  those  of  the  restored  Zoroastrianism  of  the  Sas- 
sanid  period.  They  probably  worshipped  the  heavenly 
bodies,  paid  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  astrology  and 
astronomy,  and  in  other  points  were  not  very  unlike  the 
Buddhists  in  their  belief  and  practices.  That  Buddhism 
obtained  some  hold  among  them  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
Parthian  missionaries  in  later  days  took  part  in  the 
evangelization  of  China  ;  but  when  that  influence  began  it 
is  impossible  to  say.  At  a  much  later  date,  when  the 
Buddhist  evangelization  of  China  was  well  established, 
we  find  Zoroastrian  monks  treated  as  brethren,  and  we 
read  of  Buddhists  in  Persia  presenting  a  Chinese  Emperor 
with  a  tooth-relic  of  the  Buddha.  And  in  the  Shiite  and 
Sufite  forms  of  Mahometanism  we  may,  it  is  said,  see  the 
ancient  Buddhism  of  Persia  still  asserting  itself. 

As'oka  could  write  his  edicts,  why  suppose  that  the  monks  could  not 
write  their  books  ? 


44  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Next  to  Parthia  came  Bactria/  the  reputed  home  of 
Zoroaster  himself.  Bactria  asserted  its  independence  in 
the  same  year  as  Parthia.  It  had  Greek  kings,  and  a 
small  percentage  of  Greek  settlers,  the  residue  of  the 
Macedonian  invasion ;  but  its  main  population  was  pro- 
bably of  S'akyan  origin.  Indian  writers  speak  of  the 
Bactrian  people  as  Vrijji,^  the  same  name  that  we  found 
amongst  the  Nepaulese  S'akyans  of  S'akyamuni's  time, 
and  recognized  them  as  being  Kshatriyans  by  caste, 
though  their  standing  was  defective  by  reason  of  inter- 
marriages with  other  nationalities.  Their  religion  was 
a  mixed  one,  Parthian,  Brahmanic,  Buddhist,  with  probably 
a  slight  preference  for  the  last. 

Bactria  marches  on  the  Pamirs.  East  of  the  Pamirs, 
and  north  of  what  is  now  Thibet,  dwelt  the  S'akyas,  sepa- 
rated from  the  S'akyan  brethren  of  India  and  Nepaul  by 
the  common  pasture  lands  of  Thibet.  When  they  after- 
wards emerged  from  their  mountain  fastnesses  they  were 
divided  into  four  tribes,  Asii,  Pasiani,  Tokhari,  and  Saka- 
rauli  (Strabo,  ix.  8),  and  it  is  recorded  (Kern,  "  Buddhis- 
mus,"  ii.  272)  of  the  Northern  Patriarch  Dhitika  that  he 
made  conversions  by  his  labours  among  the  Tokhari, 
who  eventually  gave  their  name  to  the  whole  of  that  tribe 
of  S'akyans.  As'oka's  envoys  did  not  reach  these  tribes, 
but  there  were  many  traders  who  carried  the  faith. 

East  of  the  S'akyans,  in  the  valley  of  the  Tarim,  lay 
the  Uighurs,  the  most  civilized  and  literary  of  all  the 
Scythian  tribes ;  beyond  them,  to  the  south  of  Lake  Lob, 

*  I  have  constantly  made  use  of  M.  Drouin's  exhaustive  article  on 
Bactriane  in  the  "  Grande  Encyclopedia." 

'  It  is  to  be  remembered  that,  according  to  the  northern  books,  it 
was  the  Vrijji-putrakas  who,  at  the  Vaisali  Council,  demanded  a  re- 
laxation on  some  points  of  Buddhist  discipline,  and  who,  being  unable 
to  get  their  request  granted  by  the  Sthavisas,  "  trekked "  over  the 
frontiers  of  Magadha  into  the  lands  beyond  the  Himalaya. 


EXPANSION   OF   BUDDHISM  45 

were  the  Usuns,  who  bordered  on  the  Chinese  Empire. 
We  know  that  Buddhism  reached  these  districts  at  a  very 
early  date.^ 

When  it  first  reached  China  we  cannot  say,^  for  the 
unofficial  introduction  must  have  long  preceded  its  official 
acceptance  under  Mingti,  In  As'oka's  time,  Hvjangti, 
who  had  assumed  the  title  of  "  King  of  Kings,"  in  imita- 
tion of  Seleucid  magniloquence,  had  begun  the  erection  of 
the  Great  Wall  that  was  to  isolate  China  from  disagree- 
able neighbours.  The  break-up  in  Central  Asia  had 
already  begun;  Scythian  hordes  were  already  on  the 
move,  and  had  troubled  the  Bosphorus,  Macedonia,  Asia 

'  Buddhism  was  introduced  into  Khotan  B.C.  125.  The  King  of 
Western  Yarkand  was  converted  La  B.C.  122.  Kashgar  was  already 
Buddhist  in  B.C.  122.  The  Buddhism  of  Kashgar  was  Hinayana,  that 
of  Khotan  Mahayana.  Stein  ("  Ancient  Khotan,"  vol.  i.  p.  57)  says 
that  the  Kashgar  Buddhism  came  from  Bactria,  a  statement  which, 
if  true,  would  imply  that  the  Yuetchi  of  Bactria  had  been  converted 
to  Buddhism  at  a  still  earlier  period.  In  the  1908  volume  of  the 
Transactions  of  the  Imperial  Russian  Academy  of  Sciences  there  are 
two  articles,  one  by  BadloS,  the  other  by  von  Stael-Holstein,  treating 
of  the  newly  discovered  Central  Asian  languages.  In  the  latter  article 
it  is  shown  that  Language  I.  has  been  found  mostly  in  the  Khotan 
district,  while  written  fragments  of  Language  11.  have  been  found 
chiefly  in  Turfan.  In  both  languages  Buddhist  books  (fragmentary) 
have  been  found,  and  both  languages  show  distinct  traces  of  Sanskrit 
influence  on  their  grammar  and  accidence,  the  resemblance  being 
stronger  in  Language  I.  than  in  Language  11.  But,  Baron  Holstein 
observes,  the  fragments  themselves  do  not  seem  to  be  direct  transla- 
tions from  the  Sanskrit.  The  word  used  in  the  colophon  in  one  case 
implies  "  compilation "  or  "  working  over,"  from  which  we  might 
almost  infer  a  special  recension  of  Buddhist  books  for  Central  Asian 
readers.  In  such  a  case,  a  later  manufacture  of  Central  Asian  Sutras 
does  not  seem  to  be  out  of  the  question.  No  Sanskrit  text  has  been 
found  for  {e.g.)  the  "  Amitayur  dhyana  Sutra." 

*  If  any  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  statement  in  the  Thibetan 
History  already  mentioned,  that  China  was  first  evangelized  by  Man- 
juiri,  we  must  place  that  mysterious  personage  during  the  centuries 
of  silence  between  As' oka  and  Kanishka.  The  temple  especially  con- 
nected by  tradition  with  Manjuari  is  the  Wu-tai  monastery  near  Peking. 


46    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Minor,  and  Rome  with  their  presence,^  the  Hiungnu  were 
already  restive  in  their  places  in  Western  China,  when 
Buddhism  plunged,  at  the  death  of  As'oka,  into  a  daxk 
night  which  lasted  for  over  two  centuries.  Before  it 
took  the  plunge  it  had  already  shown  its  ambition  to 
become  a  world-religion.  When  it  emerged  it  had  some- 
what changed  its  character,  though  it  still  retained  its 
ambitious  projects.  It  had,  moreover,  gained  for  itself 
a  most  relentless  and  formidable  rival. 

*  Irish  records  sometimes  speak  of  Scythia  as  the  cradle  of  their 
race,  and  Druidism  traces  itself  vaguely  to  Taprobane,  i.e.  Ceylon. 


CHAPTER   V 

POSHYAMITEA 

PusHYAMiTRA  was  an  important  factor  in  the  development 
of  the  Mahayana,  whose  claims  to  distinction  have 
generally  been  overlooked. 

As'oka,  it  is  evident,  ruled  over  a  very  extensive 
kingdom,  and  was  one  of  the  great  monarchs  of  the  day. 
It  has  always  been  a  matter  of  wonder  how  his  empire, 
so  great,  and  apparently  so  firmly  based  on  righteousness 
and  judgment,  should,  after  his  death,  have  come  to  such 
a  speedy  ruin  that  the  Mauryan  family  practically  dis- 
appears from  the  annals  of  India. 

A  recent  writer  in  the  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society 
of  Bengal  ^  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  As'oka's  policy 
was  one  of  unmerciful  antagonism  to  the  Brahmans,  whose 
most  cherished  prejudices  he  took  a  pride  in  shocking. 
As'oka  had,  by  precept  and  example,  discouraged  the 
taking  of  animal  life,  and  had  thereby  put  an  end  to  much 
of  the  worship  of  the  Brahman  rites.  He  had  appointed 
"  superintendents  of  morals,"  Dharma  Mahamatas,  whose 
functions  necessarily  superseded  those  of  the  Brahmans  as 
expositors  of  the  law.  He  had  proclaimed  the  principle 
of  Vyavahara  Samata, "  equality  of  punishment,"  "  equality 
in  lawsuits,"  which  did  away  with  the  peculiar  privileges 

*  See  Journal  and  Proceedings  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal, 
vol,  vi.,  No.  5  (May,  1910),  •'  Causes  of  the  Dismemberment  of  the 
Maurya  Empire,"  by  Mahamahopadhyaya  Haraprasad  S'astri. 


48    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

of  the  sacerdotal  caste,  and  secured  fair  treatment  for  all 
subjects,  irrespective  of  caste,  creed,  or  colour.  Above  all, 
he  had  boasted  that  he  had,  in  a  short  period  of  time, 
reduced  "  those  who  were  once  regarded  as  gods,"  i.e.  the 
Brahmans  (whose  privileges  as  the  twice-born  seemed  to 
entitle  them  to  a  quasi-divine  position  in  the  eyes  of 
India),  to  the  position  of  false  gods  whose  claims  to  respect 
he  had  demonstrated  to  be  baseless. 

It  could  not  reasonably  be  expected  that  the  Brahmans 
should  acquiesce  without  any  feelings  of  resentment  in 
such  drastic  changes.  They  were  not  lighting  men,  how- 
ever, and  their  only  course  of  action  was  to  bow  before  the 
storm  and  wait  for  a  good  opportunity. 

The  opportunity  came  about  B.C.  185,  in  the  reign  of 
one  of  As' oka's  weakling  successors,  the  last  of  the  Mauryan 
house.  The  Greeks  were  still  active,  pushing  their  con- 
quests further  and  further  to  the  east,  and  founding  princi- 
palities, some  of  which  seem  to  have  been  still  in  existence 
at  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  a.d.  As'oka  had 
lived  on  good  terms  with  his  Greek  neighbours;  his 
successors  found  it  necessary  to  fight  against  them  for  the 
defence  of  their  own  shrunken  territories,  and  the  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Mauryan  army  was  a  certain  Push- 
yamitra.  It  has  been  conjectured,  from  the  termination 
of  this  man's  name,  that  he  was  of  Persian  stock.  He  was 
certainly  a  very  determined  enemy  of  the  Buddhist 
religion,  and  he  had  the  confidence  of  the  Brahmans,  who 
had  been  biding  their  time  and  quietly  growing  in  numbers 
and  influence. 

After  a  successful  campaign  against  the  Greeks,  who 
had  advanced  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Mauryan  country, 
Pushyamitra  returned  in  triumph  to  Pataliputra.  A 
review  of  the  troops  was  held ;  in  the  midst  of  the 
festivities,  the  Mauryan  emperor  suddenly  fell  dead,  slain 


PUSHYAMITRA  49 

by  an  arrow  from  an  unknown  hand.  The  successful 
general,  whose  triumph  was  being  celebrated,  was  at  once 
proclaimed  emperor  in  his  stead — and  the  hour  of 
vengeance  had  come  for  the  Brahmans.  In  the  very 
city  where  As'oka  had  prohibited  animal  sacrifices, 
Pushyamitra  celebrated  (b.c.  184)  the  Hindu  rite  of 
As'vamedha,  the  "  sacrifice  of  the  horse  " ;  the  equality  in 
the  eyes  of  the  law,  which  As'oka  had  established,  dis- 
appeared once  more.  Hinduism  was  once  more  the  dominant 
faith,  though  a  Hinduism  more  elaborate,  more  philo- 
sophical than  it  had  been,  and  one  that  had  come  into 
fertilizing  contact  with  foreign  influences.  Buddhism 
was  in  its  turn  downtrodden  and  oppressed. 

But  beyond  the  limits  of  the  kingdom  ruled  over  by 
the  new  dynasty,  there  were  principalities  and  kingdoms  in 
which  Buddhism  found  a  welcome  and  a  home,  the  princi- 
palities of  the  Greeks,  the  Parthians,  the  Yuetchi,  S'akas, 
who  come  and  go  round  the  north-western  confines  of  India 
during  the  two  troubled  centuries  which  precede  the 
Christian  era. 

It  is  here,  rather  than  in  India  itself,  that  must  be 
sought  those  germs  of  thought  which  ended  by  making 
the  Mahayana  so  very  different  from  its  more  southerly 
and  more  purely  Indian  sister.  Buddhism  has  always 
been  a  faith  that  has  readily  taken  into  itself  whatever  in 
its  immediate  surroundings  it  has  found  suitable  for  its 
purposes.  Even  Jewish  influences  would  not  necessarily 
be  excluded.  "Woe  is  me,"  says  the  Hebrew  pilgrim, 
"  that   I   am   constrained  to  dwell  in   Mesech."  ^     There 

'  The  Jewish  diaspora  went  as  far  as  China,  The  Chinese  Jews 
at  Kaifongfu,  in  Honan,  seem  to  have  entered  China  between  B.C.  170 
and  the  Nativity  of  Christ,  though  laying  claim  to  an  even  earlier 
date.  But  it  is  clear  that  they  must  be  post- Captivity  Jews.  They 
are  acquainted  with  the  name  of  Ezra,  and  they  possess  portions  of 
the  books  of  Daniel,  Zechariah,  Malachi,  Esther,     They  reckon  time 

E 


50    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

were  Buddhists  in  Mesech  as  well  as  Israelites ;  there  were 
also  Zoroastrians  and  Greeks,  and  the  remnants  of  the 
old  Babylonian  cults. 

Presently,  with  Kanishka,  this  Buddhism  returns  to 
India,  and  in  As'vaghosha's  time  appears  as  a  conqueror 
before  the  walls  of  Benares.  And  in  process  of  time 
As'vaghosha  is  converted  to  the  Mahayana. 

by  the  Seleucid  era ;  they  are  ignorant  of  the  name  of  Jesus,  and 
equally  so  of  the  Rabbinical  traditions.  They  know  of  Shiloh,  which 
they  interpret  as  the  "  great  one  descending  man  "  (which  is  practically 
the  Buddhist  Nyorai).  And  they  wear  a  veil  over  the  face  in  reading 
the  Law  {ChiTiese  Recorder,  vol.  xiv.  p.  325). 


CHAPTER   VI 

The  New  Testament  in  Touch  with  the  East 

There  are  a  few  passages  in  the  New  Testament  which 
seem  to  bear  on  the  subject  we  have  in  hand.  I  propose 
to  touch  upon  them  in  this  chapter. 

The  visit  of  the  Magi  will  at  once  occur  to  the  mind 
of  every  Christian  reader  as  having  (or  as  being  intended 
to  have)  some  bearing  on  the  relations  of  Christianity  to 
the  country  or  countries  from  which  the  Wise  Men 
came.  The  account  given  in  St.  Matthew  presents  many 
difficulties  owing  to  the  apparent  impossibility  of  giving 
a  scientific  explanation  of  the  star  which  is  said  to  have 
guided  these  Eastern  sages  to  the  cradle  of  the  Infant 
Saviour,  and  many,  even  devout.  Christians  are  disposed 
in  consequence  to  treat  the  visit  as  unhistorical.  We 
have  not  at  the  present  day  the  evidence  required  to 
prove  the  historicity  of  the  story,  and  it  would  not  there- 
fore be  wise  to  lay  too  much  stress  on  the  account  of  the 
Gospel  record.  But  certain  deductions  are  evidently 
legitimate.  It  is  quite  clear  that  St.  Matthew  believed 
the  story  when  he  inserted  it  in  the  forefront  of  his 
narrative.  Or,  if  it  be  maintained  that  the  narrative 
forms  no  integral  part  of  the  original  Gospel,  it  is  evident 
that  the  later  interpolator  recognized  the  story  as  having 
some  important  bearing  on  the  preaching  of  Christ  in  the 
Orient.  St.  Matthew's  Gospel — thanks,  it  may  be,  to  the 
Jews  of  the  Dispersion,  for  whom  he  wrote  quite  as  much 


52    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

as  for  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  early  met  with  favour  in 
the  remote  countries  where  the  Mahayana  took  its  birth. 
Pantaenus  of  Alexandria  ^  found  it  in  India  when  he  went 
to  that  country  as  a  Christian  missionary  at  the  end  of 
the  second  century,  and  the  story  of  the  visit  of  the 
Magian  pilgrims  to  Bethlehem  evidently  had  a  vogue  of 
its  own  in  Central  Asia.  An  expanded  version  of  the 
story  has  but  recently  been  recovered  from  a  sand-buried 
ruin  in  Turkestan,  and  given  to  the  world  of  students.^ 
It  is  true,  it  may  be  argued,  that  the  Magi  were  Parthians, 
and  that  the  Parthians  have  had  but  little  proveable 
connection  with  Indian  forms  of  religion  ;  ^  but  we  know 
that  there  were  Parthian  Buddhists,  and  must  remember 
that,  besides  the  great  Parthian  Empire  with  which  the 
Eomans  of  the  period  so  often  came  into  conflict,  there 
were  at  the  time  the  Indo-Parthian  satrapies  in  the 
Indus  Valley,  which  were  almost  as  good  as  independent 
sovereignties,  and  in  parts  of  which  the  followers  of 
Zoroaster  lived  side  by  side  with  those  of  S'akyamuni. 
The    second    point    is    evidently    the    selection    of 

»  Of.  Busebius,  "  Eccl.  Hist.,"  V. 

'  By  Dr.  Miiller  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Berlin  Museum  ffir 
Volkerkunde. 

'  Amongst  the  Sutras  translated  into  Chinese  by  the  batch  of 
Buddhist  missionaries  who  arrived  at  Loyang  in  a.d.  147  is  one  on 
Astrology,  of  which  an  English  translation  was  given  in  the  Con- 
temporary Review  for  February,  1876  (vol.  xxvii.  pp.  417-424),  by  the 
late  Prof.  Childers.  It  is  directed  against  the  practice  of  astrology  as 
a  useless  and  misleading  superstition,  and  shows  how  foolish  it  is  to 
suppose  that  the  stars  can  possibly  have  any  influence  on  the  welfare 
or  happiness  of  man.  This  would  seem  to  show  that  the  particular 
form  of  Buddhism  preached  by  these  men  (which  seems  to  have  been 
a  kind  of  undeveloped  Amidaism)  was  strenuously  opposed  to  fortune 
telling  and  astrology.  Nevertheless,  it  will  be  seen,  there  were  some 
sects  of  Buddhism  which  allowed  their  followers  to  have  recourse  to 
the  soothsayer.  There  are  such  in  Japan  to-day.  But  see  what  I  have 
to  say  in  my  chapter  on  the  Hau  translators. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  IN  TOUCH  WITH  EAST   53 

Capernaum  as  the  centre  of  our  Lord's  ministerial 
activity.  "  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles  "  was  a  country  with 
a  mixed  population.  It  lay  on,  or  near,  some  of  the  greater 
trade-routes  between  Eome  and  the  unknown  Orient ;  it 
must  have  been  constantly  visited  by  strange  figures  from 
the  lands  of  Asia.  The  custom-house  at  Capernaum  must 
have  been  frequently  called  upon  to  appraise,  and  to  pass 
through,  bales  of  precious  merchandise  from  Persia,  India, 
and  beyond,  and  he  who,  before  his  vocation  to  be  an 
evangelist,  had  served  as  head  of  that  establishment  must 
have  had  many  opportunities  of  making  the  acquaintance 
of  travellers  from  distant  countries.  The  silk  trade 
between  Asia  and  Europe  was  in  the  vigour  of  its  early 
development.  Varro  is  the  first  Koman  writer  to  mention 
the  subject.  As'vaghosha,^  the  first  great  teacher  and 
inspirer  of  the  Mahayana,  is  honoured  in  Japan  as  the 
patron  saint  of  the  silkworm  culture,  and  it  was  the 
Jews^  who  were  the  active  promoters  of  this  trade  all 
along  the  lines  of  the  trade  routes  from  Antioch  and 
Alexandria  to  their  outpost  colony  in  Kaifongfu,^  in  the 
province  of  Honan.  It  is  evident  that  the  tradal  alBBnities 
of  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles  lay  much  more  with  the  East 
than  the  West,  and  the  personal  influence  of  the  evangelist 
who  sat  at  the  receipt  of  customs  at  Capernaum  must 
have  tended  to  spread  the  gospel  he  was  commissioned 
to  preach  amongst  the  Jews  of  Babylonian,  Indian,  and 
Central  Asian  Dispersions,  and,  through  them,  to  the 
heathen  amongst  whom  they  dwelt. 

»  "  Bukkyo  Hondo  Shu,"  p.  33  fi. 

»  I  believe  it  is  Dr.  Graetz,  in  his  "  Geschichte  der  Juden,"  who 
brings  out  this  point.  The  Jewish  Diaspora  must  have  been  a  great 
means  of  spreading  a  knowledge  of  Christ  in  remote  regions.  Think 
how  Arab  traders  carry  Mahometanism  in  Africa. 

»  This  little  colony  of  Chinese  Jews  still  exists,  though  on  the  verge 
of  extinction. 


54    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

I  find  a  third  point  of  possible  contact  in  St.  John  xii. 
20.  We  are  there  told  that  the  Feast  of  the  Passover  at 
Jerusalem  was  visited  not  only  by  Jews,  but  also  by 
Greeks  ("EXXjjvec,  not  'EXXijvtorat')/  and  that,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  great  Passover  which  saw  the  consumma- 
tion of  Christ's  work,  some  of  these  Greeks  came  to  Philip 
with  the  request  that  they  might  see  Jesus.  We  are  not 
told  that  Jesus  saw  them,  but  St.  John  tells  us  how  Jesus 
recognized  in  the  coming  of  these  Gentile  inquirers  a  sign 
that  His  work  was  drawing  near  to  its  accomplishment. 
"  The  time  has  come,"  He  said,  "  for  the  Son  of  Man  to 
be  glorified.  In  most  solemn  truth  I  tell  you  that  unless 
the  grain  of  wheat  falls  into  the  ground  and  dies,  it  remains 
what  it  was — a  single  grain ;  but  if  it  dies,  it  yields  a  rich 
harvest.  .  .  .  Now  is  My  soul  troubled.  .  .  .  Father,  save 
Me  from  this  hour.  .  .  .  Father,  glorify  Thy  Name.  .  .  ." 
Then  followed  a  voice  from  heaven,  which  they  that 
heard  it  failed  to  comprehend.  "  It  is  not  for  My  sake," 
said  Jesus,  "  that  the  voice  came,  but  for  yours.  Now  is 
the  judgment  of  this  world :  now  will  the  prince  of  this 
world  be  driven  out.  .  .  .  And  I — if  I  am  lifted  up  from 
the  earth — shall  draw  all  men  to  Me." 

Who  were  these  Greeks,  and  where  did  they  come 
from  ?  After  Pentecost,  and  still  more  so  after  the 
subsequent  dispersion  of  the  Apostles  and  the  recogni- 
tion of  St.  Paul  as  the  Apostle  of  the  Grjeco-Roman 
world,  the  gospel  of  Christ  spread  rapidly  throughout 
the  bounds  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Nay,  it  is  clear  that 
the  zeal  of  unofficial  preachers  of  Christ  outran  the  slower 
movements  of  the  authorized  evangelists,  and  that  the 
good  news  reached  the  extreme  West,  Spain,  Gaul,  and 
Britain,  long  before  the  arrival  of  Christian  missionaries.'' 

*■  The  Hellenists  (Acts  vi.)  were  Jews  who  spoke  Greek ;  the  Hellenes 
were  Gentiles  not  in  connection  with  either  Judaism  or  Christianity. 

«  See  J.  W.  Taylor, «'  The  Coming  of  the  Saints." 


NEW  TESTAMENT  IN  TOUCH  WITH  EAST    55 

But  there  is  no  trace  or  siga  of  any  interest  taken  in 
Christ,  during  His  earthly  life,  by  any  European  Greek. 
The  centurions  mentioned  in  the  Gospels  and  Acts  were 
Eomans,  not  Greeks,  and  the  Greek  influence  exercised  in 
Palestine  through  Herodians  and  Sadducees  was  notoriously 
and  actively  opposed  to  Christ's  claims  and  teachings.  It 
is  evident  that  the  Greeks  of  whom  St.  John  tells  us  were 
of  a  different  kind  from  the  friends  and  abettors  of  Herod. 
We  will  call  to  mind  the  statement  made  by  Irenseus  ^ 
that  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  was  written  for  the  purpose 
of  combating  the  heresy  of  the  Nicolaitans,  and  we  will 
anticipate  matters  a  little  by  stating  that  there  is  very 
good  reason  for  believing  that  the  Nicolaitans  professed 
a  form  of  Buddhism  almost  identical  with  the  still-existing 
Shingon  sect  of  Japan,  a  sect  which  pins  all  its  faith  on 
the  mercies  of  an  abstract  and  eternal  Buddha  of  the  name 
of  Vairoc'ana,  and  which,  significantly  enough,  gives  to 
S'akyamuni  the  title  of  the  "  Lord  of  this  World."  ^  We 
will  also  remind  ourselves  of  the  fact  that  there  existed 
an  Asiatic  colony  of  Greeks  ^  in  the  valley  of  the  Indus, 

*  See  Irenseus,  "  Adv.  Haer.,"  iii.  xi. 

'  The  Japanese  Shingon  hold  that  S'akyamuni  was  only  a  partial 
manifestation  of  Vairoc'ana,  and  that  his  value  as  a  teacher  of  religion 
is  entirely  confined  to  the  things  of  this  world.  For  all  higher  truths, 
they  say,  we  must  have  recourse  to  the  Supreme  Buddha  Vairoc'ana. 
See  next  chapter. 

»  These  Greek  principalities  were  the  remnants  of  the  Greek  kingdom 
of  Bactria,  established  by  Diodotus  in  B.C.  248,  and  recognized  by 
Antiochus  B.C.  208.  It  was  divided  in  b.c.  175,  Bucratides  retaining 
Bactria,  and  Demetrius  ruling  in  the  Indus  valley,  which  he  had 
conquered.  The  Bactrian  portion,  broken  into  many  principivlities, 
was  overrun  by  barbarians  in  B.C.  130,  HeUocles  being  the  last  Greek 
ruler  north  of  the  Hindu  Kush.  The  Greeks  of  the  Indus  vaUey  con- 
tinued to  hold  to  their  little  principalities  for  two  centuries  longer, 
though  much  troubled  by  the  Indo-Parthian  sovereigns,  who  robbed 
them  of  much  territory.  The  last  Greek  prince  in  India,  Hermaios, 
finally  succumbed  to  the  Turkish  or  Scythian  invader  Kadphises  I. 
about  A.D.  50.     See  Smith,  "  Early  History  of  India." 


56  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAf'AN 

who  professed  Buddhism  as  their  religion,  and  who  were 
still  under  the  rule  of  their  own  Greek  princelets  during 
the  time  of  Christ's  earthly  life. 

It  is  quite  clear  to  all  students  of  the  history  of  North- 
West  India  and  the  lands  around  the  Hindu  Kush  that 
things  were  in  a  state  of  religious  ferment  at  the  period  of 
which  we  are  speaking.  Some  change  was  imminent.  The 
Mahayana  was  approaching  the  end  of  its  period  of 
gestation ;  the  vague  prophecies  of  a  teacher  to  come  had 
filled  men's  minds  with  anticipation.  The  Greeks  of  Asia 
had  felt  it ;  they  had  also  heard,  from  the  hearsay  stories 
of  caravan  travellers,  of  the  great  Teacher  who  had 
appeared  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  and 
some  of  them  went  to  the  Passover  at  Jerusalem,  "  desiring 
to  see  Jesus,"  not  from  any  idle  curiosity,  but  because 
they  had  been  taught  to  look  for  some  such  solution  of 
their  difficulties. 

And  Christ  recognized  the  significance  of  their  appeal. 
There  was  nothing  yet  to  differentiate  Him  from  him 
whom  the  East  worshipped  as  the  "Lord  of  this  Saba- 
world,"  but  He  knew  the  lurking  potentiality.  His 
death.  His  uplifting,  would  give  Him  the  magnetic  power 
He  needed.  He  would  then  begin  to  draw  all  men  to 
Himself. 

Two  further  points  of  contact  between  the  infant 
Church  of  Christ  and  the  East  will  be  found  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles. 

Men  from  many  lands  heard  St.  Peter's  first  Christian 
sermon  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost.  If  the  Acts  are  a 
genuine  record  of  facts,  Parthians,  Medes,  and  Elamites,  as 
well  as  Jews  of  Libya  and  Cyrene,  and  proselytes  from 
Eome,  listened  to  that  great  announcement  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  men  who  heard 
and  believed,  and  were  pricked  to  the  heart  by  what  they 


NEW  TESTAMENT  IN  TOUCH  WITH  EAST    57 

heard,  should  not  have  told  their  fellow-townsmen  of  the 
great  events  that  they  had  witnessed  at  Jerusalem.  There 
is  also  something  peculiarly  significant  in  the  selection  of 
Antioch  as  the  headquarters  of  Gentile  Christianity.  No 
town,  not  even  Alexandria,  was  more  advantageously 
situated  in  this  respect  than  Antioch.  I  shall  reserve 
to  the  next  chapter  what  I  have  to  say  about  these  two 
great  cities. 

I  find  one  more  point  of  contact  with  the  Far  East  in 
the  Book  of  the  Eevelation,  in  the  vision  of  the  man 
with  the  bov\'',  who  rides  on  a  white  horse  and  goes  forth 
conquering  and  to  conquer.  Again  I  must  content  myself 
here  with  a  bare  mention  of  the  fact.  It  will  require 
a  chapter  to  itself  if  the  point  is  to  be  so  put  as  to  carry 
conviction  to  the  mind  of  the  reader,  to  whom  it  may 
possibly  come  with  a  shock  of  surprised  horror. 


CHAPTER  VII 

Alexandria,  and  Antioch  at  the  Time  of  Christ 

There  are  two  words  which  connect  the  Japanese  Maha- 
yana,  in  one  of  its  many  aspects,  with  the  Gnosticism 
of  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  and  through  it  with  the 
Christianity  of  the  Apostolic  age.  These  words  are 
Abraxas  and  Caulaitcau. 

I  have  already,  in  a  previous  chapter,  spoken  of 
Alexandria  and  Antioch,  of  their  mixed  populations,  of 
the  extent  of  their  commercial  relations  with  Central  Asia 
and  India,  and  of  the  fact  of  As'oka's  emissaries  having 
been  sent  to  both  these  cities  during  the  course  of  the 
third  century  B.C.  It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  repeat 
what  I  said  then.  What  is  of  present  importance  is  that 
these  two  cities,  the  two  organs,  so  to  speak,  through 
which  the  commerce  between  Asia  and  Europe  was 
effectuated  in  the  early  days  of  the  Eoman  Empire,  were 
the  native  homes  of  that  syncretic  miscellany  of  religious 
ideas,  known  as  Gnosticism.  Alexandrian  Gnosticism  is 
connected  with  the  name  of  Basilides,^  that  of  Antioch 
(or,  rather,  Syria)  with  Valentinus.^ 

Gnosticism  is  derived  from  the  Greek  gnosis,  which  is 
identical  in  meaning  with  the  word  Bodhi,  from  which  we 
get  Buddha,  "  the  Enlightened  One,"  and  it  is  akin,  both 
etymologioally  and  in  signification,  with  the  word  Prajna 
(Jap.  Hannya),  "  Knowledge."  The  first  of  these  Sanskrit 
'  Baailides,  a.d.  {circa)  110.  ^  Valentinus,  a.d.  (circa)  130. 


ALEXANDRIA   AND   ANTIOCH  59 

words,  personified  and  used  in  the  singular,  has  supplied 
Mahayanism  with  its  nearest  approach  to  the  idea  of  God, 
such  as  we  know  Him,  "above  all,  in  all,  through  all"; 
the  second,  likewise  personified,  in  that  vague  manner 
which  the  Mahayana  delights  to  use,  has  been  identified 
with  Nature,  with  the  Hindu  goddess  Prithivi,  with  the 
spirit  which  animates  the  Kosmos,  the  "  universal  Pan." 

The  Gnostics,  like  the  Mahayanists,  claimed  to  have 
the  key  of  wisdom  or  knowledge,  and,  like  them,  tried  to 
interpret  the  various  religions  of  the  world,  with  the  help 
of  the  key  which  was  in  their  hands.  There  seems  to  be 
no  doubt  that  the  fact  of  Christ  was  the  impulse  which 
spurred  them  to  activity ;  it  is  equally  certain  that  the  out- 
ward form  of  Gnosticism  varied  according  to  the  country 
in  which  it  made  its  appearance.  It  is  this  that  makes 
Gnosticism  such  an  extremely  puzzling  subject  to  the 
student  of  philosophy  and  religion. 

Gnosticism,  like  Proteus,  claimed  to  be  "thrice 
excellent ; "  it  "  knew  not  only  things  to  come,  but  even 
things  past'  as  well  as  present ; "  it  had  great  "  skill  in 
divination ; "  "  it  was  (or  claimed  to  be)  the  messenger  and 
interpreter  of  all  antiquities  and  hidden  mysteries."  But 
it  was  at  liberty,  nevertheless,  "to  turn  itself  into  all 
manner  of  forms  and  wonders  of  nature."  ^  The  under- 
lying matter  was  always  the  same ;  the  form  differed  from 
country  to  country  and  from  age  to  age.  The  Mahayana 
exhibits  a  precisely  similar  Protean  power  of  assuming 
the  most  varied  shapes. 

The  existence  of  Buddhism  in  Alexandria  has  often 
been  suspected.  Scholars  have  seen  Buddhists  in  the 
communities  of  the  Essenes  in  Palestine,  in  the  monastic 
congregations  of  the  Therapeutse  described  by  Philo,  in 
the  Hermetic  books  of  Egypt,  and  especially  in  the  Kopri 
•  Bacon,  "  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients,"  eh.  xiii. 


6o    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Koafiov  preserved  for  us  by  Stobseus.  The  identity  of 
these  with  Buddhism  has  never  been  clearly  established. 
It  has  also  been  often  suspected  that  Gnosticism  was 
derived  from  Buddhism.  Again,  the  identity  has  never 
been  clearly  established,  possibly  because  Western  scholars 
have  devoted  their  attention  almost  exclusively  to  the 
Hinayana  Buddhism  of  Ceylon  and  the  Pali  books.  It 
would  not  readily  occur  to  any  one  to  look  for  traces  of 
Egyptian  Gnosticism  in  remote  Japan.  Yet  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  system  known  in  Japan  as  the 
Shingon,  and  introduced  into  that  country  about  A.D.  804, 
by  the  celebrated  Kobo  Daishi,  must  be  looked  upon  as  a 
system  which  is  not  Indian  in  its  origin,  but  which  has 
been  foisted  upon  Buddhism  from  some  extraneous  quarter, 
and  that  it  is  essentially  Egyptian  and  Gnostic. 

The  Gnosticism  of  Basilides  was  based  on  the  religions 
which  that  thinker  found  to  his  hand  in  Alexandria,  and 
the  task  to  which  he  set  himself  was  apparently  to 
reconcile  the  fact  of  Christ  with  the  preconceived  notions 
of  the  Alexandrian  people.  The  reKgions  were  mainly 
two,  the  ancient  Egyptian  cults,  and  Judaism.  The 
mythologies  of  Greece  and  Eome  did  not  apparently  count 
for  much  in  Alexandria,  the  philosophies  in  vogue  were 
not  those  of  the  schools  of  Athens,  nor  were  they  such  as 
Seneca  or  Pliny  would  have  delighted  in.  The  Judaism 
of  Alexandria  was  of  a  far  more  liberal  type  (or  shall  we 
call  it  "  broad "  ?  to  be  "  broad "  is  not  always  to  be 
"  liberal ")  than  that  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  "  broad " 
school  of  Jewish  thought  which  eventuated  in  the  Cabbalah 
looked  to  Alexandria  as  its  nursery.  Egypt  lay  outside  of 
St.  Paul's  province — on  no  other  hypothesis  can  we  explain 
his  neglect  of  a  city  of  such  importance  to  an  Apostle  to 
the  Gentiles — and  all  early  notices  of  Alexandrian 
Christianity  show  it  to  have  been  for  many  years  of  a 


ALEXANDRIA   AND   ANTIOCH  6i 

very  vague  and  mixed  character.^  Evidently  the  spiritual 
soil  of  Alexandria  was  different  from  that  of  Jerusalem, 
Ephesus,  or  Eome,  and  required  a  different  treatment. 

Basilides  is  spoken  of  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,  who 
had  better  opportunities  of  judging  than  Irenseus,  as  a 
worthy  man  and  an  earnest  Christian,  and  his  efforts  to 
adapt  the  fact  of  Christ  to  the  spiritual  prejudices  of  the 
Egyptian  or  Egyptianized  Alexandrians  were  probably 
quite  praiseworthy.  A  missionary  religion  must  adapt 
itself  to  the  circumstances  and  thought  of  the  people  to 
whom  it  comes.^ 

The  system  of  Basilides  was,  like  the  system  of  ancient 
Egypt,^  and  like  that  of  the  Japanese  Shingon,  dualistic. 
It  represented  two  Worlds  {(5v6og  and  ^w>j),  the  World  of 
Light  and  the  World  of  Darkness.  The  former — like  the 
glaring  noon  of  an  Egyptian  summer's  day — was  still, 
immovable,  fixed,  the  world  of  permanent  ideas;  the 
other,  like  the  streets  that  are  filled  with  life  at  sunset,  is 
the  world  of  motion,  of  birth,  of  death — in  short,  the 
world  of  Nature. 

In  the  centre  of  the  World  of  Light — the  Diamond- 
World  (Kongo  Kai),  as  the  Shingon  well  calls  it,  to  denote 
its  fixed  and  permanent  nature — the  Egyptians  placed 
Grod,  the  unknown  I  AM,  whose  name  the  priests  of 
Pharaoh  would  not  pronounce.  The  Gnostics  called  him 
Pater  Innatus  ;  in  the  Japanese  Shingon  it  is  Eoshana,  the 
Buddha  of  Light,  Eternal.  From  that  central  and  eternal 
Deity  emanate,  or  proceed,  four  Beings — ^ons  in 
Gnosticism,  Buddhas  in  the  Shingon — who  surround  the 
central  God  on  the  Four  Quarters.     The  Gnostics  termed 

*  See  Church  Quarterly  Review,  October,  1909. 

*  This  thought  is  constantly  expressed  in  the  Saddharma  piindarika. 
It  was  one  of  Nichiren's  favourite  topics. 

'  I  have  taken  my  matter  mainly  from  Irenseus  and  Epiphanius. 


62     THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

them  Logos,  Phronesis,  Sophia,  Dy namis.^  The  Shingon 
personifies  them  as  Ashuku,  Hosho,  Amida,  Fuktijojfi;^ 
but  it  treats  Ashuku  as  representing  that  reason  (Xoyog) 
by  which  a  man  is  capable  of  faith,  Hosho  as  the  sense 
(<f>p6vrimg)  which  enables  a  man  to  regulate  his  conduct, 
Amida  as  the  Wisdom  (<To<f>ia)  which  enables  a  man  to 
understand  and  explain  the  divine  laws,  and  Fukujoju  as 
the  practical  power  which  manifests  itself  in  salvation 
(^vvafiig). 

Emanating  from  this  central  God,  with  his  four  modes  of 
manifestation,  we  have,  in  the  Gnostic  system,  a  number 
of  minor  ^ons  and  other  mysterious  beings,  evidently 
borrowed  from  the  gods  of  Egypt.  They  numbered  365, 
which  number  written  in  Greek  numerals  spelled  the  word 
Abraxas  or  Abrasax,  and  this  name  was  consequently 
given  by  the  Basilidean  and  other  Gnostics  to  the  Deity, 

*  See  "  Dissertationes  PrsBvise  in  Irensei  Libros,"  in  Migne's  edition  of 
Irenseus,  p.  xxxviii. 

'  In  Sanskrit  Akshobya,  Batnasambhava,  Amit&bha,  Amogha- 
siddhi.  These,  with  the  Central  Roshana  or  Vairoo'ana,  form  the 
Five  Dhyani  Buddhas,  the  Gochi  Nyorai  of  Japan.  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  Fukujoju  is  identified  with  S'akyamuni.  MiUiou6  ("  Cat.  Mus. 
Guimet,"  1883,  p.  204)  identifies  Amida  with  the  Egyptian  Amenti.  In 
the  funeral  ritual  of  the  Shingon  he  appears  as  Amrita, "  The  Immorttil." 
I  believe  that  it  must  have  been  this  personage  whom  the  Gnostics 
identified  with  Christ.  There  was  evidently,  from  the  case  of  Fukujoju, 
a  disposition  to  identify  the  Dhyani  Buddhas  with  actual  teachers  and 
saints,  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  Alexandrian  Gnostics  did  not 
look  upon  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  St,  Paul's  treatment  of  a  somewhat 
similar  problem  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  which,  like  Colossians, 
is  treating  of  some  Gnostic  or  quasi-Gnostio^difficulties.  In  it  (Ephes.  iv.) 
we  have  Christ  the  centre  of  all  ministerial  authority ;  and,  issuing  from 
Him,  a  fourfold  ministry :  Apostles,  centres  of  authority,  who  appeal  to 
the  vrill ;  Prophets,  whose  sphere  lies  in  the  imagination ;  Evangelists, 
who  appeal  to  men  as  reasonable  beings ;  Pastors  and  Teachers,  who 
guide  men  through  the  emotions  and  affections.  Men  do  not  always 
express  themselves  alike ;  in  this  case,  however,  the  underlying  thought 
is  the  same.    God  has  many  ways  of  saving  lost  mankind. 


ALEXANDRIA  AND  ANTIOCH  63 

as  a  whole;  not  to  the  central  Pater  Innatus  of  the 
World  of  Light,  but  to  the  whole  fulness  or  pleroma 
made  up  of  all  the  ^ons  within  that  world.  It  is 
evidently  in  opposition  to  this  splitting  up  of  the  Godhead 
amongst  many  minor  and  imsubstantial  beings  that  St. 
Paul  insists  that  there  is  but  one  God,  the  Father,  one 
Lord  (and  not  four) — and  that  in  that  one  Lord  dwells 
the  whole  Pleroma  of  the  Godhead  in  a  bodily  manner.^ 
St.  Paul  scarcely  seems  to  be  conscious  of  the  gods  of 
Greece  and  Eome ;  he  never  speaks  against  the  great 
goddess  of  Ephesine  superstition.  He  is  keenly  alive  to 
the  dangers  which  may  beset  the  Faith  which  he  is 
commissioned  to  preach  from  Gnostic  foes  disguised  as 
friends. 

Li  Japan,  the  Shingon  creed  fills  up  the  Mandara  or 
pleroma  of  the  Diamond  World  with  many  Mon^,  whom 
it  calls  sometimes  Buddhas,  sometimes  Bodhisattvas,  and 
sometimes  Myb-0,  or  "  mysterious  kings."  As  a  term  for 
the  whole  it  employs  two  words,  Aharakakia  and  Kha-la- 
ka-ha-a?  The  one  is  used  in  the  Shingon  funeral  rites, 
where  it  is  invoked  jirst,  before  any  invocation  of  per- 
sonified Buddhas.  The  second  is  written  in  Sanskrit 
characters  on  the  wooden  post  which  is  erected  over  a 
Buddhist  grave  immediately  after  the  funeral.  Both 
words  are  found  in  Gnosticism — Abraxas  and  Caulaucau ; 
both  are  identical  in  meaning,  both  with  one  another  and 
with  the  corresponding  words  in  Japanese.  I  shall  have 
to  mention  Caulaucau  again  in  this  chapter. 

We  now  come  to  the  Womb-world — as  the  Japanese 
call  it — the  World  of  moving  Life,  of  Darkness,  and  of 

»  E.g.  Col.  i.  19. 

*  Japanese  has  no  I  sound.  Hence  I  write  here  mamda/ra,  not 
momdala.  This  word  has  become  naturalized.  But  Kha-la-ka-ba-a  is 
always  written  in  Sanskrit  letters,  hence  I  write  it  with  an  I, 


64    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Death.  (It  is  worth  while  noticing  that  the  expression 
"  womb-world  "  is  not  confined  to  the  Japanese  Shingon. 
It  is  also  found  in  Epiphanius  in  his  description  of  the 
Basilidean  conception  of  the  World  of  Darkness.^)  In 
the  centre  of  the  Womb-world  we  have,  in  the  ancient 
Egyptian  religion,  Osiris ;  in  the  Gnostic  system,  the  Pater 
Innatus ;  in  Shingon,  Vairoc'ana  or  Dainichi.  All  three 
systems  identify  this  central  Deity  with  the  Sun.^  From 
Him,  in  all  three  systems,  emanates  an  "ogdoad,"  or 
eight-petalled  flower,  known  in  Sanskrit  as  ashtapattra 
vriti,  in  Japanese  as  hachi-yo-in,  and  composed  in 
Gnosticism  of  various  ^Eons,  in  Shingon  of  Eight  Ideal 
Buddhas  and  Bodhisattvas,  whose  names  we  need  not 
enter  into.  Thus  the  Ogdoad  plus  the  Pater  Innatus 
becomes  an  Ennead,  or  group  of  Nine,  and  the  Shingon 
hachi-yo-in  plus  Vairoc'ana  becomes  a  similar  ninefold 
constellation.^    The  three  systems  are  strikingly  alike. 

>  I  have  consulted,  for  the  purposes  of  this  comparison,  (i.)  the  chapter 
on  Shingon  in  Dr.  Nanjo's"  Short  History  of  the  Twelve  Japanese  Bud- 
dhist Sects;"  (ii.)  Dr.  Wallis  Budge, the  "Gods  of  Egypt;  "  and  (iii.) 
the  accounts  of  the  Gnostic  sects  given  by  Hippolytus,  Irenaeus,  and 
Epiphanius.  The  Greek  word  used  is  n-ffrpa.  See  Bousset  on  Gnosti- 
cism. 

*  This  gives  us  the  point  of  contact  with  the  Japanese  Shinto.  It 
was  the  policy  of  the  Shingon  and  other  early  sects  to  identify  the 
Japanese  Sun-goddess  Amaterasu  with  Vairoc'ana.  Amaterasu  is  the 
fabled  divine  ancestress  of  the  Imperial  House,  and  the  sixteen-petal 
chrysanthemum,  which  is  the  Imperial  crest,  is  said  to  be  a  Buddhist 
emblem,  an  expansion  of  the  Hachi-yo-in,  adopted  drca  a.d.  1120  at 
the  suggestion  of  a  courtly  Buddhist  monk  by  the  Emperor  Toba,  who 
was  an  ardent  Buddhist.  Strangely  enough.  Dr.  N.  G.  Munro,  of 
Yokohama,  has  found  the  sizteen-petal  chrysanthemum  on  an  Egyptian 
tomb.    It  is  also  found  in  "  Pistis  Sophia." 

'  Dr.  Naujo  (p.  91)  speaks  of  the  "  Mandala  of  nine  Assemblies  of  the 
Vajradhatu,  which  corresponds  to  the  nine  Beings  of  the  Hachi-yo-in.^' 
It  is  also  noteworthy  that  there  are  nine  stages  in  our  knowledge  of 
Amida,  who  is  accordingly  sometimes  represented  by  nine  figures,  each 
a  little  different  from  the  rest.    There  are  also  nine  forms  of  Osiris. 


ALEXANDRIA  AND   ANTIOCH  65 

When  an  Egyptian  died,  his  soul  descended  to  the 
realms  of  Tuat,  or  Hades.  Here  it  passed  through  thirteen 
kingdoms,  each  with  its  own  guardian  deity,  until  it 
finally  obtained  emancipation  at  the  end.  The  same 
thirteen  kingdoms  are  to  be  found  in  the  Gnostic  book, 
"  Pistis  Sophia,"  and  the  soul  is  represented  as  passing 
through  them  in  a  similar  manner.  Only  he  who  plays 
the  part  of  Osiris  in  the  Gnostic  version  is  Jesus.  In 
the  Shingon  sect  there  are  thirteen  Buddhas  ^  and  Bodhis- 
attvas,  who  take  charge  of  the  soul  at  death,  the  two  last, 
Vairoc'ana  and  Kokuzo,  remaining  its  permanent  guardians. 
The  whole  conception  of  the  state  of  the  dead  in  Shingon- 
ism  is  Egyptian.     It  is  certainly  not  Buddhist. 

I  might  multiply  examples,  but  I  must  content  myself 
with  one  or  two.  In  Egypt,  the  guardian  deity  of  the 
first  of  the  mansions  in  Tuat  bears  a  name  which  signifies 
the  "  Crusher  of  the  forehead  of  the  enemies  of  Ra."  In 
Japan  it  is  Fudo  Sama,  the  fierce-looking,  but  essentially 
kind-hearted,  Being,  who  stands  amidst  the  flames,  and 
bears  in  his  hands  a  sword  wherewith  to  slay  the  enemies 
of  man's  soul.  The  Shingon  astronomy  speaks  of  twenty- 
eight  chiku,  or  constellations,  seven  in  each  quarter  of  the 
heavens;  the  Egyptian  astronomer  knew  the  same,  and 
spoke  of  them  as  the  "  gods  of  the  twenty-eight  finger- 
breadths  of  the  Eoyal  cubit."  The  Shingon  astronomer 
uses  the  Egyptian  signs  of  the  Zodiac,^  the  same  as  ours, 

1  The  thirteen  Buddhas  of  the  Shingon  are  Fudo  (one  week  after 
death),  S'akyamuni  (2nd  week),  Manjus'ri  (3rd  week),  Samantabhadra 
(ith  week),  Kshitigarbha  (5th  week),  Maitreya  (6th  week),  Bhaishajya- 
guru  (7th  week) ;  Avalokites'vara  (100  days),  Mahasthamaprapta  (1  year), 
Amitabha  (3  years),  Akshobya  (7  years),  Vairoc'ana  and  Kokuzo,  for 
ever.  To  these  correspond  a  series  of  thirteen  planets  and  heavenly 
deities.     See  "  Catalogue  of  Mus6e  Guimet,"  p.  191  (1883). 

*  The  Shingon  signs  of  the  Zodiac  are :  (1)  Hobyogu,  Aqiiarius  ;  (2) 
Suigyogu,  Pisces  ;  (3)  Byakuyogu,  Aries ;  (4)  Go  mitsugu,  Taurus  ;  (5) 
Nannyogu,  Virgo  (though  this  is  bisexual) ;  (6)  Bugegu,  Cancer ;  (7)  So- 

F 


66  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

and  not  the  Turkish  cycle  in  ordinary  use  in  Japan.  The 
opening  chapter  of  the  "  Saddharma  pundarika  Sutra  "  (the 
Eokekyo  of  Japan)  is  so  like  the  opening  chapters  of  the 
"  Pistis  Sophia  "  ^  that  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion 
that  the  author  of  the  latter  work  must  have  had  before 
him  either  the  "  Saddharma  pundarika  Sutra  "  itself  or  a 
Sutra  of  a  very  similar  type.  The  latter  alternative  is  the 
more  probable  one.  The  Hokekyo  is  a  composite  work 
based  on  something  that  has  gone  before ;  and  it  is  indeed 
most  likely  that  the  "  Ur-evangelium  "  in  its  case  was  a 
Mahayana  Sutra  by  some  early  Mahayanist  writer.  There 
are  grounds  for  such  a  conjecture.  In  the  list  of  Scriptures 
taken  to  China  in  a.d.  147  by  Anshikao  the  Prince  of 
Parthia,  and  translated  by  him  into  Chinese  during  the 
Han  period,  there  is  one,  the  "  Marghabhumi  Sutra  "  (Jap. 
Doshikyo  ^),  the  last  three  chapters  of  which  are  said  by 
Nanjo  to  be  based  on  the  "  Saddharma  pundarika."  Nanjo's 
statement  is  denied  by  some  Japanese  students,  still  the 
fact  remains  that  there  are  portions  of  this  Sutra  which 

nyogu,  OemellcB  (not  Qemini) ;  (8)  Shishigu,  Leo ;  (9)  Hyoryogu,  Libra ; 
(10)  Kattchengu,  Scorpio;  (11)  Kugu,  Sagittarius;  (12)  Makatsugu, 
Capricornus. 

The  ordinary  signs  are  the  Rat,  Bull,  Tiger,  Hare,  Dragon,  Snake, 
Horse,  Ram,  Monkey,  Cook,  Dog,  Boar.  This  is  the  Turkish  cycle. 
In  some  of  the  trades,  such  as  the  building  trade,  which  abounds  in 
ancient  customs,  I  have  found  an  occasional  use  of  the  Buddhist  cycle. 

*  The  resemblances  between  these  two  books  are  extremely  striking. 
I  have  called  attention  to  the  subject  in  a  lecture  delivered  before  the 
Asiatic  Society  of  Japan.  The  resemblances  lie  principally  in  the  struc- 
ture and  conception  of  the  two  dialogues,  in  certain  mannerismsi  of 
speech  and  action,  and  in  the  light  that  emanates  from  the  Teacher  in 
either  case.  There  is  also  a  i  strong  similarity  between  the  two  books 
in  respect  to  the  use  of  gdthds  and  songs. 

*  In  Nanjo's  "iCatalogue  of  the  Tripitaka,"  No.  1326.  Another  Han 
book,  the  earliest  edition  of  the  Sukhdvati  Vyuha,  differs  largely  from 
the  versions  made  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  which  are  now 
current  in  Japan. 


ALEXANDRIA  AND  ANTIOCH  67 

strongly  resemble  the  spirit  and  tone  of  the  longer 
Scripture,  which,  in  its  longer  and  completer,  form  is 
evidently  of  later  date. 

There  is  also  the  statement  made  concerning  the  Mani- 
chsean  books  by  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,^  whom,  as  a  bishop, 
we  must  credit  with  trying  to  speak  only  what  he  believed 
to  be  truth,  and  who,  as  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  probably 
knew  a  good  deal  about  the  earlier  history  of  his  own 
diocese.  Cyril  tells  us  of  a  certain  Scythianus  who  lived 
in  Alexandria  and  wrote  books  which  pretended  to  be  the 
gospel,  but  "had  not  the  acts  of  Christ  but  the  mere 
name  only,"  to  which  the  "  Acta  Archelai "  adds  that  he 
founded  his  sect  during  the  lifetime  of  the  Apostles,  and 
came  to  Jerusalem  in  the  hope  of  getting  them  approved. 
Scythianus  had  a  disciple  named  Terebinthus,''  who 
apparently  came  to  Jerusalem  for  the  same  purpose,  but 
was  rejected  by  the  authorities  and  retired  to  Persia, 
where  he  assumed  the  name  of  Buddas.  These  books 
were  the  basis  upon  which  Manes  founded  his  teachings. 
The  resemblances  between  the  "Saddharma  pundarika" 
and  the  "Pistis  Sophia"  give  probability  to  the  story.  There 
must  have  been  in  circulation  in  Alexandria,  during  the 
latter  half  of  the  first  century  A.D.,  a  Buddhist  book  or 
collection  of  books  which  was  the  "  Ur-evangelium "  of 
several  heresies. 

How  far  was  the  Gnostico-Shingon  system  which  I  have 
described  influenced  by  the  speculations  of  the  mystic 
school  of  Judaism  which  eventually  blossomed  out  into 
the  Cabbalah  ?  ^  And  how  far  was  the  Cabbalah  influenced 
by  the  thoughts  of  the  Mahayanists  ?  It  would  take  us 
too  long  to  investigate  the  problem  here.  A  thorough 
investigation   of  this  subject   would   necessitate  a  long 

'  Cyril,  "  Cat.  Lect.,"  vi.  22.    Also  "  Acta  Archelai,"  c.  li. 
^  See,  below,  the  chapter  on  Manichseism,  p.  147. 


68  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

excursion  into  the  realms  of  theurgy  and  magic,  and 
I  must  therefore  content  myself  with  a  few  brief  remarks. 
Theurgy  was  practised  by  the  Egyptians;  it  was  a 
prominent  feature  of  Gnosticism;^  it  is  at  the  present 
moment  the  main  and  distinctive  element  of  the  Shingon 
worship,  which  consists  very  largely  of  manual  gestures 
and  the  repetition  of  certain  meaningless  Sanskrit  formulae.'' 
The  mystic  formulae  are  Greek  or  Coptic  in  the  one  case, 
Sanskrit  in  the  other ;  but  the  manual  gestures  are  much 
the  same  in  both.  It  is  probable  that  the  Gnostic  system 
was  taken  by  Alexandrian  merchants  to  Southern  India, 
a  district  which  had  intimate  trade  relations  with 
Alexandria  during  the  whole  of  the  first  century,®  though 
it  fell  off  in  volume  after  the  death  of  Nero  in  a.d.  68 ; 
and  it  was  in  Southern  India,  according  to  the  Shingon 
story,  that  Nagarjuna  found  the  mystic  books  which  lie  at 
the  base  of  their  system.*  This  migration  from  Egypt  to 
South  India  would  account  for  the  Sanskritizing  of  a 
system  mainly  Egyptian,  and  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
historical  probability  in  the  story  as  related  by  the 
Shingon  authorities;  for  Nanjo  tell  us  that  Nagarjuna 
(whom  we  may  place  anywhere  about  the  middle  of  the 
second  century)  received  the  Shingon  doctrine  from  a 
teacher  of  the  name  of  Vajrasattva  (Jap.  Kongosatta), 
and  that  Vajrasattva  had  received  it,  along  with  the 
mystic  Baptism,  from  Vairoc'ana  himself  through  the 
hands  of  S'akyamuni,  at  an  assembly  called  the  Joshoe 

*  See,  e.g.,  "  Pistia  Sophia,"  cap.  64. 

'  I  have  worked  out  many  of  these  in  an  article  on  the  "  Care  of  the 
Dead,"  written  for  Hasting's"  Encyclopaedia  of  Sectsiand  Eeligions,"  and 
one  of  the  publications  of  the  Mus^e  Guimet  is  entirely  devoted  to 
them. 

'  See  article  by  Sewell  on  "  Roman  Coins  found  in  India,"  in  J.B.A.S. 
for  October,  1904. 

♦  Nanjo,  "  Twelve  Buddhist  Sects,"  p.  79. 


ALEXANDRIA  AND   ANTIOCH  69 

("  self-nature-assembly  ")}  If  we  may  apply  to  a  Buddhist 
assembly  the  ordinary  rules  of  chronological  computation 
(which  is  perhaps  a  little  hazardous),  that  "  self-nature- 
assembly  "  must  have  taken  place  about  the  end  of  the 
first  century  A.D. 

We  must  not  forget  that  Antioch  as  well  as  Alexandria 
was  a  great  centre  of  trade  with  the  Orient.  Antioch 
was  the  centre  of  much  Christian  life.  From  it  went 
forth  St.  Paul  and  all  that  missionary  activity  which 
laboured  in  Asia  Minor,  in  Greece,  and  in  Italy.  From 
it,  likewise,  went  forth.  Eastward,  the  missions  to  Edessa, 
to  Nisibis,  to  Armenia,^  to  Persia  and  beyond.  From  it 
came  the  churches  which  were  cut  off  in  consequence  of 
the  quarrels  over  Nestorius,  and  through  the  Nestorians 
Antioch  became  the  grandmother  of  the  earliest  missions 
— at  least  as  far  as  definite  records  are  at  hand — to 
China. 

Antioch  originated  the  word  "  Christian ; "  the  first 
Christian  from  Antioch  whose  name  is  recorded  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  was  a  certain  Nicolas,^  a  proselyte  of 
that  city,  who  was  chosen  to  be  one  of  the  Seven  Deacons. 
The  term  "  proselyte  "  would  seem  to  imply  that  Nicolas 
was  a  Gentile  by  birth,  converted  to  Judaism,  and  again  to 
Christianity.  He  must  have  been  a  fickle  person,  for  he 
subsequently  left  the  Christian  Church,  and  became  the 
founder  of  a  heretical  sect  mentioned  by  the  writer  of  the 

'  This  points  to  a  belief,  of  which  I  have  found  traces  elsewhere  in 
Japan,  of  a  reappearance  of  S'akyamuni  somewhere  about  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era. 

*  In  an  article  by  J.  Kennedy  in  J.B.A.S.,  1904,  we  learn  that  there 
was  an  Indian  colony  in  Armenia  from  B.C.  130  to  a.d.  300,  when  it 
was  broken  up  by  St.  Gregory  the  Illuminator.  They  were  snake- 
worshippers  ("  Nagas  ")  from  Nagpur,  and  may  thus  have  had  some 
connection  with  Ophitism. 

'  Acts  vi.  5 ;  Rev.  ii.  15 


70  THE   CREED  OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Apocalypse.  His  teachings  are  described  by  Irenseus, 
Hippolytus,  Epiphanius,  and  others.  They  were  of  the 
general  Gnostic  type,  and  we  note  with  interest  that  he 
and  his  followers  used  the  word  Caulaucau  as  a  term 
apparently  for  God.  Now,  Caulaucau  is  that  Buddhist 
term  which  is  found  along  with  Abraxas  in  the  system  of 
Basilides  and  in  the  Japanese  Shingon.  It  brings  the 
Japanese  Mahayana  very  near  to  the  holy  ground  of  the 
New  Testament — too  near,  perhaps,  for  some  people. 

One  more  point  remains  to  be  noticed.  It  is  said  both 
of  Nicolas  and  of  Basilides  that  their  followers  speedily 
lapsed  into  wild  immoralities,  quite  at  variance  with  the 
austere  strictness  which  these  two  heresiarchs  affected.  I 
am  not  personally  aware  of  any  immoral  practices  amongst 
the  Japanese  Shingonists,  but  the  Eev.  Ekai  Kawaguchi, 
the  Buddhist  priest  who  has  travelled  so  long  in  Thibet, 
speaks  of  the  immoral  doctrines  of  the  old  sect  of  Lamas 
in  that  country,  and  likewise  of  an  immoral  sect  of  the 
Japanese  Shingon  which  had  to  be  suppressed  on  account 
of  its  filthy  practices.  So  I  conclude  that  the  Shingon, 
like  its  parent  Gnosticism,  has,  at  some  period  in  its 
history,  presented  the  same  sad  contrast  of  the  pure  and 
the  impure.^ 

I  Ekai  Kawaguchi,  "  Three  Years  in  Tibet,"  pp.  409-411. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

The  Legend  of  St.  Thomas 

The  last  chapter  will,  it  is  hoped,  have  prepared  the  mind 
of  the  reader  for  accepting  the  idea  that  the  beginnings  of 
Christianity  and  of  the  Mahayana  were  nearly  related  in 
time,  in  place,  and  in  idea.  Nicolas  of  Antioch,  who  became 
a  worshipper  of  Caulaucau,  was  certainly  a  contemporary 
of  the  Apostles ;  the  testimony  of  St.  Cyril  and  others,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  Buddhist  Sutra  of  which  we  have 
found  a  chapter  embedded  in  the  "  Pistis  Sophia,"  may  be 
taken  as  evidence  of  local  connection  in  Alexandria,  and 
the  testimony  of  the  same  two  books  may  be  taken  to 
show  that  there  was  a  connection  (some  might  call  it  a 
confusion)  of  thought  in  Gnostic  minds  between  S'akya- 
muni  and  Christ. 

An  early  Christian  legend,  given  in  the  Apocryphal 
Acts  of  St.  Thomas,  and  supported  by  the  testimony  of 
Eusebius  and  others,  connects  the  Apostle  St.  Thomas 
with  the  valley  of  the  Indus.  The  legend  has  undoubtedly 
been  much  embellished  by  later  additions,  but  competent 
scholars  have  concluded  that  it  is  quite  possible  that  it 
may  rest  on  a  substratum  of  fact.  Let  us  examine  the 
story.^ 

Eleven  of  the  original  Apostles  (Matthias  is  not 
mentioned)  are  supposed  to  have  been  together  in  Jeru- 

'  "  Acts  of  the  Holy  Apostle  Thomas  "  in  "  Ante-Nicene  Fathers," 
voL  viii.  p.  535. 


72     THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

salem.  They  were,  we  may  presume,  in  possession  of 
their  Master's  commandment  to  go  into  all  nations,  and 
were  considering  how  to  fulfil  the  commandment.  "  We 
portioned  out  the  regions  of  the  world  in  order  that 
each  one  of  us  might  go  into  the  region  that  fell  to  him, 
and  to  the  nation  to  which  the  Lord  sent  him."  They 
then  proceeded  to  cast  lots,  a  procedure  quite  in  accord- 
ance with  what  we  know  from  the  Acts,  and  "  by  lot,  then, 
India  fell  to  Judas  Thomas,^  also  called  Didymus  or  the 
Twin." 

But  Thomas  did  not  wish  to  go.  He  pleaded  "  the 
weakness  of  the  flesh,"  "  and  how  can  I,  being  a  Hebrew 
man,  go  among  the  Indians  to  proclaim  the  truth  ? " 
What  we  know  of  St.  Thomas  from  the  Canonical  Gospels 
makes  his  hesitancy  on  this  occasion  quite  natural — in 
him. 

Then  Christ  appears  to  him  in  the  night.  "  Fear  not, 
Thomas,"  He  says ;  "  go  away  to  India,  and  proclaim  the 
word  ;  for  My  grace  shall  be  with  thee." 

But  Thomas  is  not  to  be  moved :  "  Wherever  Thou 
wishest  to  send  me,"  he  says,  "send  me  elsewhere;  for 
to  the  Indians  I  am  not  going." 

But  Christ  overrules  the  obstinate  refusal  of  his 
doubting  Apostle.  A  merchant  has  arrived  from  India, 
with  a  commission  from  a  certain  King  Gundaphorus,  to 
buy  him  a  carpenter,  and  for  three  pounds  Christ  sells 
him  His  servant  Judas,  "  who  also  is  Thomas."  The  slave- 
dealing  need  not  stop  us.  It  only  amounts  to  saying  that 
Thomas  came  to  be  sold  as  a  slave  to  an  Indian  merchant, 
and  that  people  saw  in  the  circumstance  the  overruling 
finger  of  God.  But  Gundaphorus  is  a  historical  personage, 
whose  identity  has  been  brought  to  light  by  the  industry 
of  the  pioneers  of  modern  historical  research,  and  was  an 

»  Cf.  Eusebius,  "  Ecc.  Hist.,"  i.  13. 


THE   LEGEND   OF  ST.   THOMAS  73 

Indo-Parthian  king,  ruling  in  the  Indus  valley.  Thus 
St.  Thomas  goes,  according  to  one  story,  to  India ;  accord- 
ing to  another,  to  Parthia.  Both  stories  may  be  true, 
supposing  that  he  went  to  Indo-Parthia.  Gundaphorus 
had  a  long  reign,  from  a.d.  21  to  a.d.  60,  and  he  ruled 
over  the  districts  of  Arachosia,  the  lower  Indus,  Herat, 
and  Peshawur.  He  was  a  great  ruler,  for  the  Scythian 
hordes  of  the  Yuetchi  had  not  yet  swept  down  upon  his 
territories,  and,  like  great  rulers,  he  immortalized  himself 
in  stone.  He  was  a  mighty  builder,  and  his  buildings 
were  artistically  adorned.  We  shall  see  in  discussing 
Gandhara  art,  which  is  the  art  of  North-West  India  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  that  it  is  dominated 
by  Graeco-Eoman  conceptions,  and  a  recent  discovery  at 
Peshawur  has  given  the  world  the  name  of  a  Greek 
architect  for  the  stupa  erected  by  the  Scythian  King 
Kanishka  in  honour  of  S'akyamuni's  relics.  It  is,  there- 
fore, an  altogether  possible  story  that  St.  Thomas  should 
fall  into  the  hands  of  kidnappers,  and  be  taken,  as  a  slave 
skilled  in  building  and  architecture,  to  the  court  of  a 
great  Indian  king,  thus  falfilling,  in  spite  of  himself,  the 
desires  of  his  Master. 

The  Indian  merchant,  Abbanes,  having  made  his 
purchases,  returns  to  his  master  in  Indo-Parthia.  "  They 
began,  therefore,  to  sail.  And  they  had  a  fair  wind,  and 
they  sailed  fast  until  they  came  to  Andrapolis,  a  royal 
city."  The  Syrian  trade  with  India  went  overland  as  far 
as  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  thence  by  sea  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Indus.  If  St.  Thomas  was  sold  as  a  slave 
and  taken  to  India,  it  would  be  by  that  route  that  he 
would  be  taken.  Andrapolis  means  the  "  city  of  the  man," 
and  Purushapura,  the  modern  Peshawur,  has  the  same 
meaning.  Purushapura  was,  as  the  legend  says,  actually 
the  royal  city  of  Gundaphorus. 


74  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

After  being  for  some  time  in  the  service  of  Gunda- 
phorus,  at  Andrapolis,  or  Purushapura,  where  he  did  much 
preaching  of  the  gospel,  St.  Thomas  goes  to  a  neighbouring 
kingdom,  the  sovereign  of  which  appears  as  Misdeus  or 
Basdeo.  The  second  of  these  names  gives  us  an  Indian 
form,  Vasudeva,  and  it  is  known  that  a  king  of  this  name 
was  reigning,  contemporaneously  with  Gundaphorus,  at 
Mathara  on  the  Jumna. 

It  is  on  the  strength  of  evidence  such  as  this  that 
scholars  such  as  Fleet,  Smith,  Dahlmann,  and  others  have 
concluded  that  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  story  of 
St.  Thomas  the  Apostle  having  preached  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  in  North-West  India  is  well  within  the  bounds 
of  probability,  though  the  same  cannot  be  said  of  the 
other  story,  which  tells  us  that  he  preached  in  South 
India,  and  was  buried  at  Mailapur,  near  the  coast  of 
Madras.  This  much,  however,  we  can  say  of  it.  There 
is  a  constant  tradition  in  South  India  which  for  centuries 
has  connected  the  shrine  of  Mailapiir  (or  Meliapore)  with 
the  death,  not  the  preaching,  of  St.  Thomas;  and  the 
so-called  Christians  of  St.  Thomas  can  be  traced,  not 
certainly  to  Apostolic  times,  but  to  a  period  of  great 
antiquity.  In  A.D.  78  there  is  a  Pallava  king  reigning 
at  Mailapur  and  its  neighbourhood,  and  Ceylon  tells  of 
another  king,  named  Shdlivahana,^  who  was  a  Takshaka- 
putra,  "  son  of  a  carpenter,"  i.e.  a  Christian — a  follower 
of  Christ,  or  a  follower  of  Thomas  the  Carpenter.  The 
phrase  is  a  Gnostic  one ;  at  some  later  time  I  shall  show 
traces  of  a  Gnostic  connection  between  the  Alexandrian 
Gnosis,  a  Tamil  poet  from  Mailapur,  and  Kobo  Daishi 

*  J.B.A.S.,  vol.  zvii.  The  Pallavas,  or  Parthians,  seem  to  have 
carried  on  an  extensive  commerce  both  with  the  West  and  the  East, 
It  seems  probable  that  Gondopharus  and  Vasdeo  were  both  Parthians 
and  if  bo,  the  Pallava  king  at  Mailapur  may  have  been  Vasdeo. 


THE   LEGEND   OF   ST.   THOMAS  75 

For  present  purposes,  I  shall  assume  that  the  earlier 
portion  of  the  St.  Thomas  legend  is  at  least  so  far  true 
that  there  actually  was  Christian  preaching  at  a  very 
early  period  in  North-West  India.  What  I  have  to  say 
in  the  next  chapter  may  (or  may  not)  be  found  to  confirm 
the  truth  of  the  ancient  legend. 


CHAPTER   IX 

The  Call  from  China 

We  will  assume,  then,  that  Christiaa  preachers  visited 
India  somewhere  about  a.d.  45,  and  that  the  story  of 
St.  Thomas  having  been  martyred  near  Mathura,  on  the 
Jumna,  in  Central  India,  or  at  MailapAr,  on  the  Tamil 
coast,  about  a.d.  51  (this  being  the  year  traditionally 
assigned  for  his  martyrdom),  is  not  an  absolutely  im- 
probable one.  These  men  would  have  brought  no  Chris- 
tian books  with  them;  they  would  have  their  own 
memories  of  the  things  that  they  had  seen  or  heard, 
and  they  may  have  had,  or  have  made,  logia,  or  short 
pithy  sayings  of  or  about  Christ,  such  as  have  recently 
been  found  in  Egypt,  and  such  as  St.  Matthew  is  sup- 
posed to  have  jotted  down  before  composing  his  Gospel. 
And  they  possibly  had  some  converts. 

Now,  in  the  year  64  a.d.,  the  Chinese  Emperor  Ming-ti 
had  a  dream.  On  several  successive  nights  there  stood 
before  him  a  man  in  golden  raiment,  holding  in  his  hand 
a  bow  and  arrows,  pointing  him  to  the  west.  The 
emperor  was  much  moved  by  his  vision,  and,  divining  its 
purpose,  determined  to  send  men  to  the  west  to  seek  for 
the  mabito  '■  (JB£.A)>  "  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^^  "  of  his  vision.  There 
was  at  this  moment  no  commanding  figure  in  Buddhism 
to  whom  the  words  could  apply.    As'vaghosha  might  have 

»  Murakami,  "  Handbook  of  Buddhism,"  p.  290.    The  story  will  be 
found  in  the  S.P.C.K.  "  Handbook  of  Chinese  Buddhism." 


THE   CALL   FROM    CHINA  ^^ 

been  such  a  man,  but  As'vaghosha  is  connected  with  the 
reign  of  Kanishka  {drca  A.D.  120),  and  his  days  were  not 
yet.  But  there  had  lately  been,  and  in  the  faith  of  his 
followers  there  still  spiritually  was,  such  a  Man,  and  it  is 
quite  within  the  bounds  of  reason  to  suppose  that  rumours 
of  such  a  person  had  reached  the  Chinese  court  at 
Loyang.  We  have  only  to  consider  that  the  active  silk 
trade  between  China  and  the  luxurious  early  empire  of 
Eome  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Jews,  whose  headquarters 
were  in  Antioch ;  that  these  Jews  had  colonies  and  trade 
posts  all  along  the  route  to  the  distant  East ;  that  their 
furthest  outpost  was  at  Kaifongfu,  in  Honan,  where  a 
miserable  colony  of  their  descendants  still  subsists  to 
bear  witness  to  a  buried  past ;  that  Jews  from  Parthia  were 
amongst  those  who  were  impressed  by  the  events  of  the 
day  of  Pentecost ; — we  have  only  to  consider  these  things 
to  understand  how  extremely  probable  it  was  that  rumours 
of  the  mahito  should  reach  China.  The  Roman  Empire 
had  good  roads ;  the  Parthians  had  inherited  good  roads 
from  the  Persians  and  the  Seleucid  Greeks ;  China  under 
the  Han  was  a  progressive  military  power,  and  must 
have  had  them.  The  journey  from  Antioch  to  the  Chinese 
capital  at  Loyang  would  not  occupy  more  than  a  year  and 
a  half,  and  already  thirty  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
Crucifixion  and  Pilate's  testimony  to  the  mahito — Ecce 
Homo! 

Further,  although  it  was  not  until  the  year  a.d.  75  or 
so  that  the  great  Chinese  general  Panchao  started  on  the 
great  military  expedition  which  brought  the  Chinese  arms 
victoriously  to  the  shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  made 
the  Celestial  Empire  for  a  few  years  almost  the  next-door 
neighbour  of  Rome,  it  is  certain  that  the  Central  Asian 
troubles  which  caused  that  expedition  were  already  brew- 
ing, and  the  solution  of  them  was  already  occupying  the 


78  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

minds  of  Chinese  statesmen.  We  can  hardly  imagine  such 
a  great  expedition  being  planned  without  some  previous 
study  of  the  actual  conditions  of  the  countries  concerned, 
and  we  can  readily  understand  that  such  an  inquiry  might 
bring  the  fact  of  Christ  to  the  cognizance  of  the  officials. 
The  inquiry  might  have  led  them  to  an  explanation  of 
the  "  Great  One  Descending  Man,"  looked  for  by  the  Jews 
of  Kaifongfu.^ 

At  any  rate,  Ming-ti,  warned  by  his  dream,  sends  his 
commissioners  to  the  "West.  There  were  eighteen  of  them, 
their  names,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  are  given,  and  they 
start  for  India.  According  to  the  most  authentic  form  of 
the  story ,^  they  never  reached  India,  for  on  the  road  they 
met  two  monks  toiling  over  the  mountain  passes,  and 
leading  a  white  horse  laden  with  the  impedimenta  of  their 
journey.  The  names  of  these  two  travellers  were  Kasyapa 
Matanga  and  Dharmaraksha,  or  Gobharana.  The  white 
horse  was  laden  with  Scriptures  and  Buddhist  images,  and 
they  were  on  their  road  to  China  to  preach  the  gospel. 
Buddhism  had  now  been  in  the  world  for  five  centuries 
at  least,  and  had,  as  we  have  seen  in  a  previous  chapter, 
amply  recognized  its  calling  as  a  world-religion.  One  is 
tempted  to  ask  with  wonder.  Why  should  China,  so  nearly 
related  to  northern  and  north-western  India,  have  been 
left  so  long  without  a  preacher  ? 

There  was  something  about  these  men — possibly  the 
white  horse — which  satisfied  the  Chinese  commissioners 
that  they  had  found  what  they  wanted.  They  turned 
back  with  their  newly  made  acquaintances  to  the  Chinese 
capital,  where  the  missionaries  were  well  received  and 
lodged  in  a  monastery  which  still  exists,  the  oldest  in 
China,  the  celebrated  Pomash  (Jap.  Hakubaji),  the  oldest 
existing  temple  in  China,  "  the  Monastery  of  the  White 

*  See  above,  p.  50,       *  "^ukkjro  Kakushii  Koyo,"  vol.  i.  chap.  i.  p.  4. 


THE   CALL  FROM   CHINA  79 

Horse."  It  is  evident  that  the  White  Horse  made  a  great 
impression  on  China,  an  impression  which  apparently 
reached  Japan  as  well.^ 

Kasyapa  Matanga  and  Dharmaraksha  reached  China 
in  A.D.  67.  Three  years  later,  in  a,d.  70,  they  both  died. 
They  had  had  but  a  short  sojourn  in  China ;  but  it  was 
not  altogether  a  fruitless  one.  The  "  Bukkyo  Mondo  Shu  " 
gives  us,  in  the  chapter  from  which  I  have  already  quoted, 
certain  particulars  of  their  workings.  They  at  once 
attracted  many  inquirers  (coming  as  they  did  in  answer 
to  an  Imperial  dream,  they  could  not  well  have  done 
otherwise),  and  the  Taoists  and  Confucianists  were  at 
once  stirred  up  to  jealousy.  Their  enemies  applied  to 
the  emperor,  and  Ming-ti,  desirous  of  doing  what  was 
right,  appointed  a  day  for  a  public  discussion.  Not 
much  could  be  done  in  that  line,  however;  for  the 
one  side  knew  no  Chinese,  and  the  other  no  Sanskrit. 
But  there  were  other  tests  which  the  missionaries  and 
their  friends  stood  triumphantly.  Buddhist  relics  refused 
to  be  broken  by  sledge-hammers,  Buddhist  books  emitted 
a  gentle  light  and  refused  to  be  burned  in  the  fire,  and 
the  two  Buddhist  monks  compelled  the  attention  of  a 
large  audience  by  speeches  in  Sanskrit,  which,  strangely 
enough,  every  one  understood.  There  are  echoes,  as  it 
were,  in  this  story,  of  Elijah  and  the  priests  of  Baal,  of 

1  In  "  Biikky5  Mondo  Shu,"  vol.  i.  p.  34,  in  a  discussion  on  As'va- 
ghosha  as  the  patron  saint  of  silk-culture  (he  is  so  considered  in  the 
provinces  of  Shinshu  and  Echigo,  and  perhaps  elsewhere  in  Japan), 
there  is  a  mention  of  As'vaghosha  in  connection  with  the  White  Horse. 
He  is  said  to  have  appeared  as  a  thousand  white  horses,  to  have  made 
a  thousand  white  birds  sing,  to  have  assumed  the  forms  of  countless 
silkworms,  to  have  spun  thousands  of  cocoons,  to  have  saved  many 
thousands  of  living  creatures.  The  Shingon  speaks  of  him  as  an 
incarnation  of  Vairoc'ana,  who,  in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  was  the  Eighth 
Patriarch  of  Buddhism.  There  are  several  temples  in  Japan  in  which 
a  white  horse  is  constantly  kept. 


80    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

the  Children  in  the  Furnace,  of  the  Pentecostal  experience, 
which  are  very  strange.  We  shall  find  the  same  story 
as  to  the  relics  in  Japan,  and  the  Buddhists  of  Ceylon 
claim  the  same  thing  for  their  Tooth  of  Buddha. 

Four  books  are  put  to  the  credit  of  these  two  mis- 
sionaries in  Nanjo's  "  Catalogue  of  Tripitaka,"  of  which, 
however,  only  one  survives.  One  of  the  best  books  is 
said  to  have  been  a  life  of  Buddha,  which  some  have 
identified  with  the  "  Buddha  carita  "  ^  of  As'vaghosa,  an 
impossibility,  seeing  that  the  day  of  As'vaghosha  had  not 
yet  come.  The  book  that  survives,  that  has  weathered 
the  many  vicissitudes  of  Chinese  history,  the  fires  ^  and 
other  catastrophes,  is  known  as  the  "  Sutra  of  the  Forty- 
Two  Sections."  It  is  not  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  as  are 
most  other  Sutras,  but  is  merely  a  collection  of  short 
pithy  sayings  of  "  the  Buddha,"  loosely  strung  together, 
and  provided  with  a  short  introduction  setting  forth  the 
place  and  time  at  which  Buddha  is  supposed  to  have 
spoken  them.  It  has  been  conjectured  (though  I  believe 
there  is  no  definite  authority  for  the  conjecture)  that  the 
missionaries,  finding  handbooks  in  use  with  short  extracts 
from  the  writing  of  Confucius,  conceived  the  idea  of  com- 
posing a  similar  book  with  extracts  from  the  Buddhist 
Sutras,  and  that  the  "  Sutra  of  the  Forty-Two  Sections  " 
was  the  result.  It  may  be  so.  The  book  has  undergone 
many  editions  and  revisions,  and  any  one  who  knows  the 
East  knows  that  the  Chinese  are  adepts  in  the  culinary 

•  In  "  Sacred  Books  of  the  East,"  vol,  xlix.  Bukkyo  Mondo  Shu 
{l.c.)  correctly  gives  As'vaghosha's  approximate  date  as  "  during  the 
sixth  century  after  the  Nirvana." 

*  Chinese  history  has  several  "  bibliothecal  catastrophes,"  as  they 
are  termed,  when,  by  order  of  the  Government,  all  books  were  burned 
except  a  few  favoured  ones  on  practical  subjects.  But  these  catastrophes 
sometimes  occurred  at  a  time  when  China  was  divided  into  several 
kingdoms,  and  then  of  course  they  did  not  apply  to  the  whole  empire. 


^' 


THE   CALL   FROM   CHINA  8i 

art.  It  is  a  possible  belief  that  we  have  in  the  "  Sutra  of 
the  Forty-Two  Sections  "  a  collection  of  logia,  containing 
short  pithy  sayings  of  the  Master,  and  prepared  for  the 
use  of  missionaries  such  as  were  Kasyapa  Matanga  and 
Dharmaraksha,  working  in  a  new  land  without  proper 
books  in  the  vernacular ;  but  a  conjecture  has  before 
this  been  made  that  these  two  men  were  not  Buddhist 
missionaries,  but  Christians,  disciples  of  St.  Thomas,  who 
is  still,  I  believe,  to  this  day  commemorated  in  Nestorian 
liturgies  as  the  Apostle  of  India  and  China.  Qui  per 
aliumfacit  per  sefadt. 

The  reasons  available  are  as  follows : — 

1.  It  is  known  that  there  were  such  logia  among  early 
Christians.  I  believe  I  am  right  in  saying  that  there 
are  no  similar  logia  in  the  whole  range  of  Buddhist 
Sutra  literature,  except  those  which  were  compiled  about 
this  period  for  like  purposes. 

2.  The  fact  that  we  have  in  the  "  Pistis  Sophia  "  the 
introduction  of  a  Buddhist  Sutra,  taken  by  some  Gnostic 
cordon  bleu  and  served  with  suitable  gamishings  as  the 
introduction  to  a  book  concerning  Christ,  seems  to  suggest 
the  feasibility  of  the  reverse  process,  and  that  a  Christian 
book  might  similarly  be  taken  by  some  Chinese  literary 
cook  and  served  up  to  the  devout  in  China  as  a  Buddhist 
book,  with  a  suitable  introduction  to  give  local  colour  and 
tone. 

3.  The  main  contents  of  the  book  will  be  found, 
071  the  whole,  to  be  not  in  disagreement  with  Christian 
doctrines,  and  far  more  suitable  for  Christian  purposes 
than  the  Epistle  of  St.  James  (which  has  been  claimed  as 
a  Buddhist  writing)  would  be  for  the  use  of  disciples  of 
S'akyamuni. 

4.  We  shall  see,  from  a  study  of  Buddhist  art,  that 
whereas  the  early  Buddhist  sculptures  invariably  treat 

G 


82  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

the  Master  as  absent,  thus  carrying  out  the  spirit  of  the 
Sanskrit  title  for  Buddha,  i.e.  the  Tathagata,  "  the  one  that 
went  thus  (as  he  said),"  in  the  post-Christian  art  of  Gand- 
hara,  he  is  always  represented  as  a  Being  that  is  present 
aaioagst  his  disciples,  and,  being  present,  very  often 
depicted  in  Greek  or  Grseco-Roman  costume.  The  "  one 
that  had  gone "  had  been  changed  to  "  the  one  that  had 
come,"  whose  Presence  {trapovaia)  was  recognized  by  his 
followers.  This  first  mission  to  China,  the  first  official 
introduction,  be  it  remembered,  of  a  new  faith  to  China 
(for  whatever  Buddhism  there  had  been  before  this  time 
must  have  been  quite  unofficial),  must  be  held  responsible 
for  the  invention  of  suitable  "  characters  "  through  which 
to  introduce  to  the  Chinese  literati  the  idea  of  the  Tath- 
agata. And  the  characters  they  those  (^  ^),  the  Chinese 
Julai,  the  Japanese  Nyorai,  convey  the  idea  of  the  pa- 
rousia.  "  He  that  comes  thus  (as  was  expected),"  the 
Great  One  Descending  Man  of  the  Kaifongfu  Jews.  It 
is  a  very  significant  change. 

5.  Still  more  significant  is  the  character  which  must 
have  been  introduced  to  represent  Buddha  (f^),  the 
Chinese  Fo,  the  Japanese  hotoke.  The  component  parts 
of  this  character  are  said  to  represent  a  man  (\)  with  a 
bow  (^)  and  arrows  (  H  )  ;  and  we  may  suppose  the  two 
missionaries  to  have  said  to  the  people  of  Loyang  (the 
ancient  capital  of  China),  "  We  have  come  to  tell  you  of 
the  Mahito,  of  the  true  man,  of  the  man  with  the  bow  and 
arrow  whom  your  Emperor  saw  in  his  vision."  It  is 
possible  (for  there  were  Greeks  living  in  India,  as  we  have 
seen)  that  under  the  Indian  names  of  these  two  mission- 
aries there  may  have  lurked  a  Greek  nationality.  At 
any  rate,  the  character  they  chose  is  capable  of  another 
signification,  besides  the  one  usually  given — the  three  first 
letters  of  the  name  of  the  Perfect  Man,  our  cherished 


THE   CALL   FROM    CHINA  83 


Christian  monogram,  IHC,   the   man  with  the  bow  and 
arrows !  ^ 

6.  We  may  suppose  this  character  for  Buddha  to  have 
been  introduced  to  China  about  the  year  68  a.d.  There 
are  many  competent  scholars  who  assign  to  the  year 
67  A.D.  the  composition  of  the  Book  of  Revelation.  In 
that  book  the  author,  after  a  rapid  survey  of  the  Churches 
under  his  immediate  Apostolic  guidance,  and  after  a 
vision  of  God  in  His  glory,  proceeds  to  tell  his  readers 
the  things  that  must  shortly  come  to  pass.  The  imme- 
diate future  is  a  sealed  book  with  many  seals  which 
none  but  the  Lamb  may  open.  The  first  seal  is  broken 
(Rev.  vi.  2),  and  St.  John  is  told  to  come  and  see  "  a 
white  horse,  and  he  that  sat  on  it  had  a  how,  and  a 
crown  was  given  unto  him,  and  lie  went  forth  conquering 
and  to  conquer." 

There  are  Christians  who  say  that  the  New  Testament 
is  a  book  that  is  all  fulfilled,  that  the  end  of  which  Christ 
spoke  in  His  discourse  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  was  accom- 
plished at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  and  that  we  should 
think  of  the  saints  who  took  part  in  that  first  resurrection 
as  already  gathered  around  Christ  in  the  heavenly  places. 
One  of  the  signs  given  was  that  the  Gospel  of  the  King- 
dom should  be  first  preached  unto  all  nations  for  a 
witness,  and  then  the  end  should  come.  It  is  certain 
that  Christianity  reached  England  and  Spain  and  the 
lands  of  the  furthest  West  about  the  same  time  that  the 
White  Horse  reached  China.  If  we  could  trace  the  Ethio- 
pian Eunuch  or  the  labours  of  other  Apostles,  we  might  be 
astonished  to  find  how  far  to  the  south  the  gospel  travelled 
in  those  early  days.  For  a  thing  which  is  really  a  gospel 
requires  no  elaborate  machinery  or  organization  to  push  it 

i  Compare  what  has  been  said  above  of  the  "  Divine  Name  of  the 
Six  Letters." 


84  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

on.     It  is  recognized  as  "  good  news,"  and  it  travels  from 
mouth  to  mouth. 

The  White  Horse  in  the  Apocalypse  was  followed  by 
others,  red,  black,  pale,  the  symbols  of  War,  of  Famine, 
of  Death.  Nothing  was  done  by  the  Buddhists  of  India 
to  follow  up  this  mission  of  the  White  Horse — a  fact 
which  seems  to  point  to  its  not  having  been  a  Buddhist 
mission  at  all,  for  the  Buddhists  would  surely  not  have 
neglected  to  follow  up  so  gracious  an  invitation  from  so 
powerful  a  monarch  as  Ming-ti.  But  suppose  it  to  have 
been  a  Christian  preacher  that  went  to  China,  and  we 
may,  in  the  confusions  that  followed  in  Europe  and  Asia, 
find  abundant  reasons  for  the  cessation  of  Christian  mis- 
sionary effort.  The  seed  had  been  scattered  very  widely 
— the  testimony  had  been  delivered,  by  St.  Paul  before 
Nero,  by  some  unknown  preacher  before  the  Great  Han 
Emperor.  Then  the  labourers  fell  asleep,  and  the  enemy 
came  to  sow  the  tares.  Those  first  men  were  sent  forth 
only  to  give  a  testimony,  and  when  the  testimony  had 
been  delivered  the  End  of  the  Age  came.^ 

1  A  good  translation  of  the  Sutra  of  the  Forty-Two  Sections  will 
be  found  in  "  Sermons  by  a  Buddhist  Abbot."  Chicago,  Open  Court, 
1905. 


CHAPTER   X 

Buddhism  just  befoke  the  Coming  of  Christianity 

It  is  my  intention  in  this  chapter  to  estimate  as  far  as  I 
can  the  condition  of  Buddhism  just  before  the  coming  of 
Christianity  to  India,  and  consequently  just  before  the 
first  visible  development  of  the  Greater  Vehicle.  This 
will  clear  the  ground  for  the  consideration  of  the  Maha- 
yana  itself  in  later  chapters. 

Our  most  trustworthy  guides  for  the  dark  period 
between  As' oka  and  Christ  are  the  remains  of  ancient 
Buddhist  temples  of  the  earlier  or  Persian  period  of 
Indian  art.  From  these  ^  we  may  gather  that  long  before 
the  dawn  of  the  Christian  era  Buddhism  had,  for  all  prac- 
tical intents  and  purposes,  formulated  for  itself  a  demi-god 
in  S'akyamuni,  whom  it  worshipped  with  far  more  fervour 
than  the  Greeks  worshipped  Herakles,  whom  in  Asia  they 
identified  with  S'akyamuni.  Eound  Herakles  in  Greece 
many  myths  formed  themselves ;  the  person  of  S'akyamuni 
was  likewise  enveloped  in  a  robe  of  legends  and  sayings,  and 
it  comes  to  a  Christian  reader  as  an  unpleasant  and  un- 
welcome shock  to  find  S'akyamuni  provided  with  stories 
very  similar  to  those  which  have  always  endeared  to  us  the 
Nativity  and  Infant  life  of  Christ  our  Saviour.     There  is 

>  E.g.  those  at  Amar^vati,  AjS-nta,  Sanchi,  Barhut,  Gaya,  Nalanda, 
etc.  For  a  convenient  summary  reviewing  all  that  has  been  written 
on  the  subject,  see  Griinwedel,  "  Buddhistische  Kunst  in  Indien" 
(Museum  fur  Viilkerkunde,  Berlin).  Also  Rhys  Davids'  "  Buddhist 
India." 


86  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

no  use  for  us  to  try  and  blink  the  fact.  It  stands  there  in 
the  clear-cut  stone  monuments  of  India  that  pre-Christian 
India  believed  in  Buddha  as  a  Being  whose  Birth  was 
supernatural,  the  result  of  a  spiritual  power  overshadowing 
the  mother ;  as  one  whose  Birth  was  rejoiced  over  by  angels 
and  testified  to  by  an  aged  seer;  as  one  who  had  been 
tempted  by  the  Evil  One  and  had  overcome  ;  as  one  whose 
life  had  been  one  of  good  deeds  and  holy  teachings ;  as  one 
who  had  passed  into  the  unseen,  leaving  behind  him  a 
feeling  of  longing  regret  for  him  who  had  thus  gone  away.^ 
Buddhism  was  also  by  this  time  provided  with  books, 
or  at  least  with  a  body  of  doctrines  orally  embodied  in  set 
forms,  and  recited  by  the  monks  with  that  verbal  exact- 
ness for  which  the  Indians  have  always  been  so  famous. 
On  one  of  his  rock  inscriptions,  in  the  edict  at  Bairat  in 
Kajputana,  As'oka  mentions  the  names  of  seven  such 
Sutras,  of  which  five  have  been  identified  as  still  existing 
in  the  Pali  Sutta  Pitakam,^  while  the  sixth  and  seventh 
have  been  with  considerable  reason  supposed  to  be, 
respectively,  the  germ  of  the  Vinaya  Pitakam,  or  books 
of  Discipline,  and  the  First  Sermon  delivered  by  Buddha 
after  his  Enlightenment.  Shortly  after  As'oka's  death, 
about  B.C.  200  (and  therefore  before  the  accession  of 
Pushyamitra),  on  the  rail  around  the  stupa  of  Barhut,^  are 
inscribed  the  "  names  of  pious  Buddhists,  who  are  described 
as  "  reciters,"  "  versed  in  the  Dialogues,"  "  versed  in  the 
Baskets,"   and  "  versed  in  the  Five   Collections,"  *  and 

*  See,  eg.,  "Buddhist  and  Christian  Gospels,"  by  A.  J.  Edmunds. 
I  have  used  the  Tokyo  (1905)  edition  with  notes  by  M.  Anesaki. 

*  Edmunds  and  Anesaki,  I.e.,  p.  2.    See  above,  p.  42. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  3.  The  writers  also  refer  to  Ferguson's  "  History  of 
Indian  and  Eastern  Architecture  "  (London,  1876),  p.  5,  and  to  Cunning- 
ham, "  The  Stupa  of  Barhut." 

*  I.e.  The  Five  Nikayas,  or,  as  they  are  termed  in  the  Mahayana, 
the  Five  Agamas.  Professor  Anesaki  has  given  the  Asiatic  Society 
of  Japan  an  exhaustive  comparative  study  of  the  Pali  Nikayas  and 
Sanskrit  Agamas. 


BUDDHISM  JUST  BEFORE  CHRISTIANITY    Zy 

these  inscriptions  bear  witness  to  the  continual  tradition 
of  these  oral  records.  And,  finally,  if  we  may  trust  the 
Ceylon  Chronicles,  these  oral  records  were  committed  to 
writing  in  Ceylon  about  40  B.C.,  and  thus  the  Hinayana 
books  assumed  their  stereotyped  form. 

We  may  assume,  further,  that  the  pre-Christian  Bud- 
dhism, possessing  the  books,  possessed  also  the  doctrines 
of  Hinayana  Buddhism,  such  as  it  is  still  to  be  found  in 
Ceylon  and  other  Buddhist  countries  of  the  Southern 
School.  It  does  not  fall  within  the  'scope  of  this  work  to 
give  an  account  of  these  doctrines.  The  student  will 
find  them  admirably  summarized  in  books  like  Hardy's 
"Manual  of  Buddhism,"  or  Warren's  "Buddhism  in 
Translation."*  But  it  is  also  certain  that  while  the 
doctrinal  standards  had  been  faithfully  handed  down  until 
the  time  came  for  them  to  be  committed  to  writing,  there 
had  also  been  a  steady  downward  tendency  in  the  life 
of  the  Buddhist  Church,  accompanied  by  a  corresponding 
relaxation  of  the  firmness  with  which  the  doctrines  of 
Buddha  were  held.  This  downgrade  movement  has  been 
graphically  described  for  us  in  the  "  Ten  Dreams  of  Kas- 
yapa,"  which  may  be  taken  as  coming  to  us  from  the 
latter  end  of  this  period  of  Buddhist  decay.^ 

According  to  that  book,  the  great  disciple  Kasyapa, 
who  is  reckoned  by  north  and  south  alike  as  the  first 
Patriarch  of  Buddhism  after  the  death  of  S'akyamuni, 
had  ten  dreams :  (1)  An  elephant,  having  squeezed  its 
body  through  a  narrow  door,  failed  to  get  its  tail  through. 
(2)  Thirsty  men  were  seen  running  away  from  a  fountain 

*  Of.  also  Neumann's  *'  Die  Roden  Gotamo  Buddhas."  I  have  also 
learned  very  much  from  Leon  Fear's  Buddhist  articles  in  the  Journal 
Asiatique. 

*  See  J.B.A.S.  for  1893,  p.  512.  The  dreams  are  found  in  Thibetan ; 
also  in  Nanjo's  Catalogue,  543,  631,  632  (connected  with  Prasenajit). 
They  have  likewise  made  their  way  into  Russian  folklore. . 


88  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

of  water  which  pursued  them.  (3)  A  measure  of  pearls 
was  given  as  payment  for  a  mess  of  porridge.  (4)  A  load 
of  costly  sandal-wood  was  sold  at  the  price  of  common 
I'uel  logs.  (5)  A  garden  full  of  flowers  and  fruits  was 
stripped  by  thieves.  (6)  Elephants  during  the  rutting 
season,  when  they  are  usually  fierce  and  pugnacious,  were 
driven  away  by  a  knot  of  little  children.  (7)  A  dirty 
monkey  was  seen  covering  another  monkey  with  dirt.  (8) 
A  monkey  was  crowned  and  anointed  as  king.  (9)  A 
piece  of  cloth  was  torn  into  eighteen  pieces.  (10)  A  crowd 
of  people  were  quarrelling  in  the  streets.^ 

The  dreams  had  their  interpretations,  and  in  those 
interpretations  we  may  see  the  gradual  decay  of  the  in- 
stitutions which  S'akyamuni  had  founded,  and  which 
As'oka  had  been  at  such  trouble  to  propagate.  (1)  The  dis- 
ciples had,  in  obedience  to  their  master's  commands,  left 
their  homes  to  follow  him,  but  the  surrender  had  not  been 
complete.  The  elephant's  tail  had  refused  to  pass  through 
the  door,  and  presently  the  monks  made  new  homes  for 
themselves,  and  became  attached  to  their  comfortable 
monasteries,  as  they  had  once  been  to  their  mansions  and 
villas.  (2)  The  disciples  were  like  a  well,  bubbling  over 
with  the  water  of  life ;  but  the  laity  had  no  thought  of 
religion,  and  possibly  a  contempt,  more  or  less  openly 
expressed,  for  the  comfortable  recluse.  So  the  fountain 
had  to  pursue  thirsty  men,  who,  while  perhaps  craving 
for  the  truth,  were  yet  unwilling  to  quench  their  thirst 
at  that  particular  fountain.     (3)  Thus  there  resulted  a 

^  It  ia  a  testimony  to  the  early  existence  of  a  schism  in  Buddhism 
that  the  two  lists  of  patriarchs  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  Schools 
respectively  agree  only  in  one  name — that  of  Ka^yapa,  the  inunediate 
successor  of  S'akyamuni.  This  implies  that  the  two  parties  went  each 
its  own  way  immediately  after  Kafiyapa's  death,  which  occurred  not 
long  after  that  of  S'akyamuni.  As'oka  possibly  tried  to  effect  a  reunion, 
and  may  indeed  have  had  some  temporary  success. 


BUDDHISM  JUST  BEFORE  CHRISTIANITY    89 

cheapening  of  religious  instruction.  In  their  anxiety  to 
win  adherents,  the  preachers  tickled  the  ears  of  their 
audience  with  the  highest  truths,  when  the  simpler  ones 
would  have  been  more  suitable;  and  in  return  for  the 
measure  of  pearls  they  offered  received  but  a  poor  meed 
of  gratitude — a  mess  of  porridge.  (4)  In  the  same  way, 
the  fear  of  losing  disciples  caused  the  monks  to  tolerate 
the  existence  of  heresy  in  the  community ;  the  teachings  of 
heretics  were  esteemed  as  highly  as  those  of  the  orthodox 
— sandalwood  was  sold  at  the  same  price  as  common 
fuel.  (5)  The  monasteries  were  rich  and  well  endowed 
with  lands  and  estates.  The  revenues  should  have  been 
for  the  poor ;  the  monks  used  them  for  their  own  profit. 

(6)  Good  disciples  (the  rutting  elephants)  were  driven 
away  by  worthless  ones  (children).  As  early  as  the  days 
of  As'oka  complaints  were  made  of  this,  the  better  sort  of 
monks  preferring  to  retire  rather  than  be  forced  into 
religious    contact    with    worthless    and    evil    brethren. 

(7)  These  worthless  men  were  like  dirty  monkeys,  covered 
with  mud.  They  threw  the  dirty  mud  of  slander  at  their 
fellows,  and  so  made  them  appear  as  dirty  as  they  were 
themselves.  (8)  Then,  having  got  rid  of  the  worthy  monks, 
they  proceeded  to  elect  superiors  of  their  own  type  in  the 
monasteries,  till  it  came  that  the  monkey  was  anointed 
as  king.  (9)  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Buddhist 
community,  which,  like  Christ's  garment,  had  once  been 
a  seamless  vesture  of  whole  cloth,  had  been  torn  and  rent 
into  eighteen  pieces,  corresponding  to  the  eighteen  sects  ^ 

'  I  here  give  the  eighteen  Hinayana  sects  as  found  in  Japanese 
books.  There  were  two  main  divisions  which  were  imade  very  early, 
some  would  have  it  as  early  as  the  Council  of  the  Grotto  immediately 
after  S'akyamuni's  death,  others  at  the  Second  CouncU  of  Vais'ali,  a 
hundred  years  later.  According  to  this  view,  the  Mahasanghikas,  who 
were  the  liberally  inclined  amongst  the  monks,  being  unable  to  com- 
municate any  longer  with  the  conservative  Sthaviras,  broke  loose  and 


90  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

into  which  the  Hinayana  had  been  torn.  (10)  And  the 
result  of  sectarianism  was  religious  strife. 

formed  themselves  into  separate  communities  outside  the  limits  of  the 
Magadhan  kingdom.  In  this  way  the  germs  were  planted  out  of  which 
later  grew  the  two  Vehicles.  The  Mahdsanghikas  {Daishilbu,  ^^l^i^) 
were  divided  into  (i)  Issetsubu  ( — ^iSP),  (ii)  Sesshusebu  (^tUifc  b5)> 
(iii)  Kei-in-bu  i^MM),  (iv)  Tamonbu  (^^|H5),  (v)  Setsu-ge  bu 
(^ISbP),  (vi)  ScUasa7tbtciM^\l\W},  (vii)  Seisanjubu  {MUlUM), 
(viii)  Hokusanjubu  (^bUl'ffi!!^). 

The  StJiaviras  (_t  M  w)  were  not  so  numerously  subdivided.  Their 
sub-sects  were  (ix)  Setsuissaiubu  (^ — "'sU'HrP))  (x)  Tokushibu 
(^^^),  (xi)  Hdjobu  (^±M),  (xii)  Kenchobu  (^^^),  (xiii) 
Shdryobu  (jEfinP).  (^i^)  Mitsurinsanbu  (^^UlpfR).  (xv)  Ketabu 
(itiiSi%)  (xvi)  Hozobu  (^IcSU),  (xvii)  Onkdbu  (M^ISP).  (xviii) 

Kyoryobu  (WLMj^)- 

Murakami  enumerates  twenty  sects  by  reckoning  in  a  parent 
Sthavira  and  a  parent  Mahasanghika  sect.  Some  of  these  sects,  e.g. 
those  in  which  the  character  t]t,  san  ("mountain"),  appears,  were 
most  probably  locaL  No.  ix.,  known  in  Sanskrit  as  Sarvastivadins,  were 
the  most  powerful.  It  was  for  this  sect  that  Kanishka  erected  the 
great  stupa  for  Buddha's  relics  lately  unearthed  near  Peshawur. 
No.  xvi,  the  Dharmaguptas,  were  very  strong  on  the  Vinaya,  and 
through  it  exercised  much  influence  in  China.  Nothing  is  known  about 
the  majority  of  the  sects  here  enumerated.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  the  Hinayana  disappeared  before  the  rising  Mahayana.  It  con- 
tinued side  by  side  with  its  rival,  not  only  in  India,  but  also  in  China 
and  Japan.  It  seems  probable,  however,  that  the  Mahayana  ultimately 
absorbed  many  of  the  Mahasanghika  subjects. 

The  following  extract  from  a  Burmese  book  (quoted  by  Edmunds  and 
Anesaki,  op.  cit,  p.  5)  deserves  a  thought : — 

"  In  the  time  of  the  king  named  Nago  the  Robber,  when  the  whole 
of  Ceylon  was  vexed  by  the  fear  of  the  bad  monks,  the  monks  who  kept 
up  the  Tripitaka  went  to  India  (compare  No.  6  of  Ka^yapa's  dreams). 
Those  monks  who  did  not  go  thither,  but  stayed  at  home,  being  vexed 
by  fear  of  famine,  tightened  their  waistbands,  encased  'their  bodies 
in  sand,  and  kept  up  the  Tripitaka.  .  .  .  When  the  fear  of  bad  monks 
was  appeased,  the  monks  came  back  from  India,  and,  together  with  the 
monks  who  had  stayed  in  Ceylon,  they  reconciled  the  Tripitaka  with 
the  recension  of  the  Great  Minster  (Mahasanghika),  and  when  the  two 


BUDDHISM  JUST  BEFORE  CHRISTIANITY    91 

One  of  the  most  important  books  for  the  study  of  the 
Dark  Period  is  the  so-called  "  Questions  of  King  Milinda," 
of  which  there  is  an  English  version  by  Professor  Rhys 
Davids  in  the  "Sacred  Books  of  the  East."  Menander 
(for  that  is  the  proper  reading  of  MiKnda)  was  one  of  the 
Greek  princes  that  ruled  in  India  during  the  last  century 
before  Christ.  The  book  fixes  its  own  date,  for  it  alludes 
to  S'akyamuni's  prophecy  that  his  religion  would  not  last 
for  more  than  500  years  after  his  death,  and  yet  betrays 
no  consciousness  of  the  fact  that  it  had  already  lasted 
beyond  that  period.  We  may  take  it,  therefore,  that  the 
five  centuries  had  not  quite  elapsed  when  the  book  was 
written,  and  may  place  the  composition  of  it  somewhere 
about  the  time  "  of  the  Flavian  Emperors  of  Rome."  ^ 

The  book  has  been  called  the  "  Irenseus  "  of  Buddhism. 
The  Pali  Pitakas  are  "  immanent "  in  its  pages,  just "  as 
the  New  Testament  is  immanent  in  the  pages  of  Irenseus." 
It  bears  a  strong  testimony  to  the  existence  and  nature 
of  the  Hinayana  books,  as  also  to  the  Hinayana  doctrine, 
and,  better  than  any  other  book,  enables  us  to  see  what 
was  the  state  of  Buddhist  thought  at  the  end  of  its  first 
period,  when  the  Age  of  the  Upright  Law  (as  it  has  since 
been  called)  was  all  but  over,  and  the  Age  of  Image  Law 
was  about  to  be  introduced.^ 

The  author  of  the  book  speaks  of  the  period  of  Eive 
Hundred  years  as  being  the  duration  of  S'akyamuni's 
teachings  in  the  world.  The  Five  Centuries  were  just 
elapsing,  when  the   new  faith  of  Christ  came  into  the 

were  made  harmonious,  they  estahlished  them.  Then  when  they  were 
established,  they  kept  them  up  in  Ceylon  only." 

Prom  this  it  would  seem  that  the  Mahasanghika  (Great  Minster) 
School  of  the  Hinayana  has  continued  itself  in  Ceylon. 

^  Edmunds  and  Anesaki,  p.  4.  The  date  coincides  with  the  dawn 
of  the  new  era  in  the  religious  history  of  the  world. 

*  This  is  the  chronological  theory  adopted  by  Japanese  Buddhism. 


92  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

world.  There  was  everything  to  fill  a  Buddhist  monk 
possessing  a  statesman's  mind,  one  capable  of  taking  a 
wide  outlook  over  the  world,  with  anxiety  as  to  the  future. 
India  was  a  political  cypher,  divided  among  weakling 
princes.  On  its  north-western  frontier  lay  the  dreaded 
Scythian,  whose  invasion  of  the  land  would  certainly  not 
be  delayed  for  many  years  to  come.  He  was  very  pos- 
sibly a  Buddhist,  but  his  Buddhism,  already  mixed  with 
alien  elements,  was  not  of  the  same  type  as  that  of 
Magadha.  If  he  came,  he  would  not  help  the  poor  dis- 
tracted Hinayanist ;  if  he  only  threatened  to  come,  he  was 
still  a  Buddhist  and  an  alien  enemy,  and  the  patriotism 
of  India  was  asserting  itself  by  a  return  to  the  old  Indian 
gods  whom  A'soka  had  persuaded  it  to  lay  aside.  Go 
away  he  certainly  would  not.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that 
at  such  a  time  our  monk  should  turn  his  thoughts  to  him 
that  had  "  thus  gone "  ?  I  have  already,  in  a  previous 
chapter,  spoken  of  the  change  that  comes  over  the  Bud- 
dhist architecture,  and  of  the  significant  change  in  the 
Chinese  word  for  the  Tathagata.  I  will  now  quote  from 
another  of  the  Pali  Sutras,  one  which  surely  referred  not 
merely  to  the  Buddha  that  once  was  and  now  had  gone, 
but  much  more  to  him  that  was  to  come,  and  whose 
coming  was  to  give  new  hope  of  life.^ 

"  Ananda,  the  future  Buddha,  is  mindful  and  conscious 
when  he  is  born  with  the  Tushita  Body.  .  .  .*  (he)  is 
mindful  and  conscious  when  he  vanishes  from  the  Tushita 
Body  and  descends  into  his  mother's  womb.  .  .  When 
he  vanishes  from  the  Tushita  Body  and  descends  into  his 

*  I  quote  from  the  "  Dialogue  on  Wonders  and  Marvels,"  given  by 
Edmunds  and  Anesaki,  pp.  54-60. 

*  Tlie  Tushita  Heaven,  one  of  the  lower  heavens  in  the  Buddhist 
cosmology,  is  one  in  which  beings  with  form  can  appear.  The  Highest 
Heaven  is  beyond  form,  and  consequently  beyond  thought. 


BUDDHISM  JUST  BEFORE  CHRISTIANITY    93 

mother's  womb,  then,  in  the  world  of  the  angels,  of  Mara, 
of  Brahma,  unto  the  philosophers  and  Brahmans,  princes 
and  peoples,  there  appears  a  splendour,  limitless  and  emi- 
nent, transcending  the  angelic  might  of  the  angels,"  etc. 

Words  such  as  these,  written  in  all  probability  before 
the  birth  of  Christ,  and  applicable  to  the  Nativity  of 
S'akyamuni  as  it  lives  in  Buddhist  legend  and  belief,  do 
not  at  all  necessarily  imply  that  the  Nativity  stories  of 
the  New  Testament  are  merely  faked-up  fables,  borrowed 
from  an  older  cycle  of  fiction.  Rather  they  show  that 
when  He  was  born,  in  the  way  in  which  His  birth  is 
recorded.  He  was  fulfilling  more  than  one  prophecy.  It  is 
thus  that  it  behoves  a  Divine  Saviour  to  he  horn  ;  that  is 
the  testimony  of  Isaiah,  of  Virgil,  of  the  Buddhist  Sutra,  of 
many  another  great  teacher  that  has  appeared.  It  was 
part  of  the  stock-in-trade  (if  I  may  so  call  it)  of  S'akya- 
muni ;  it  was  also  a  part  of  the  stock-in-trade  of  Christ. 
If  Christ's  superhuman  credentials  had  gone  no  further 
than  the  Nativity  cycle,  Christ  would  in  no  sense  have 
differed  from  S'akyamuni.  But  Christ's  claim  of  super- 
natural testimony  went  farther  than  S'akyamuni's.  He 
claims  our  allegiance  not  merely  because  "  He  was  con- 
ceived of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary," 
but  more  especially  so  because,  having  been  crucified  and 
slain.  He  rose  again  the  third  day  from  the  dead.  It  is  on 
the  Resurrection  that  St.  Paul  bases  Christ's  claim  to  be 
the  Son  of  God ;  it  is  this  that  makes  Him  unique  in 
religious  .history.  This  places  Christ  at  the  head  of  all 
things  in  the  religious  world ;  its  absence  puts  S'akya- 
muni into  his  proper  place,  a  place  in  which  he  may  yet 
claim  the  ungrudging  respect  of  Christian  people.  It 
constitutes  him  a  great  witness  and  forerunner  of  Christ, 
and  no  Japanese  can  be  offended  at  having  him  placed  in 
such  a  seemingly  humble  position,  for  it   is  the    place 


94  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

which  they  themselves  assign  to  him  when  they  say,  with 
their  own  poet,  that  the  sole  reason  for  S'akyamuni's 
appearance  in  the  world  was  that  he  might  point  men  to 
Amitabha.^ 


1  See  my  "  Shinran  and  His  Work  "  (Tokyo,  1910),  p.  47. 

A  good  instance  of  the  moral  bankruptcy  of  the  Hinayana  at  this 
period  will  be  found  in  the  "  Katha  Vatthu,"  translated  by  Rhys  Davids 
in  J.B.A.S.,  1892.  Also  in  the  Jdtaha  stories  (published  in  English 
by  the  Cambridge  University  Press).  iEsop  esteemed  these  rightly 
in  making  them  the  basis  of  many  of  his  fables,  and  they  have  left 
their  traces  in  much  of  the  folklore  of  many  peoples  in  Asia  and  Europe. 
But  the  religion  which  produced  them  must  first  have  lost  a  large 
part  of  its  moral  vigour.  They  do  not  speak  the  language  of  men 
who  are  terribly  in  earnest  about  some  teaching  of  faith.  One  cannot 
imagine  Tertullian  or  Augustine  gravely  telling  a  Jataka  story.  The 
"  Katha  Vatthu "  contains  a  discussion,  from  the  standpoints  of  the 
various  Hinayana  sects,  of  certain  questions  concerning  Buddhist 
philosophy,  ethics,  and  discipline.  On  very  few  of  these  questions 
were  the  answers  given  unanimously  in  the  same  sense.  Here  are 
some  of  the  questions — 

"Is  there,  in  the  truest  and  highest  sense,  a  soul?  "  "  No."  [To 
this  question  two  sects  gave  an  affirmative  answer.  One  of  these  sects 
must  have  been  that  of  the  Sarvastivadins,  for  the  existence  of  the 
soul  was  one  of  their  tenets.] 

"  Does  the  imiverse  exist  ?  "  ♦'  No ;  there  is  nothing  that  is  not 
transient."  [But  here  again  the  Sarvastivadins  affirmed  the  real 
existence  of  the  \iniverse.] 

"  Can  an  Arhat  fall  from  grace  ?  Can  he  be  guilty  (unwittingly 
or  through  diabolic  temptation)  of  indecency  ?  Can  he  have  ignorance, 
doubt,  or  error  ?  Is  there  moral  restraint  among  the  gods  ?  "  "  To  all 
these  questions,  No  "  [unanimous]. 

"  Is  the  Noble  Path  self-existent  ?  or  the  Chain  of  Causation  ? 
or  the  Four  Noble  Truths  ?  or  Nirvana  ?  "  Again  "  No."  [And  yet 
these  four  things  are  the  very  groundwork  of  S'akyamuni'sl  personal 
teachings.    The  very  foundations  of  the  Buddhist  Faith  had  gone !] 

"  Is  Nirvana  a  virtuous  (moral)  state  ?  "     "  No." 

There  are  also  some,  very  interesting  points  raised  in  what  we  may 
perhaps  call  "  Buddhology." 

"  Was  Buddha  a  true  man  ?  "  Yes,"  [said  most  of  the  sects  ;  but 
one  sect  affirmed  that  this  was  not  so.  The  Buddha  had  remained 
all  the  time  in  the  Tushita  Heaven,  and  that  which  appeared  upon 


BUDDHISM  JUST  BEFORE  CHRISTIANITY    95 

earth  was  only  a  phantom.  It  was  exactly  what,  at  that  very  moment, 
heretics  further  west  were  saying  about  Christ !]. 

"  Did  Buddha  himself  preach  the  Law  ?  "  "  No,"  said  one  sect ; 
he  never  preached.  It  was  Ananda  that  preached.  [It  was  Ananda, 
it  will  be  remembered,  whose  memory  supplied  so  many  of  the  Sutras 
after  the  death  of  S'akyamuni]. 

"  Did  the  Councils  alter  S'akyamimi's  doctrines  or  make  it  afresh  ?  " 
[With  one  dissentient  voice  ithey  all  agreed  that  they  had  so  tampered 
with  the  deposit  of  the  Faith.] 

•'  If  there  should  be  another  Buddha,  would  it  be  possible  for  him 
to  be  born  out  of  India  ?  "  •'  Impossible,"  said  they  aU ;  "a  Buddha 
can  only  be  born  within  the  limits  of  Jambudvipa."  [And  accordingly 
the  Japanese,  who  want  to  have  their  share  in  everything  that  is  great, 
have  extended  the  limits  of  Jambudvipa  (Ichi-Embudai)  to  include 
China  and  Japan  as  well.] 

The  lowest  depth  was  reached  by  the  question,  "  Were  the  Buddha's 
excretions  of  exceeding  sweet  savour?"  And  to  this  some  answered 
one  thing,  and  some  another. 


CHAPTER  XI 

AS'VAGHOSHA 

Everybody  in  Japan  reckons  As'vagliosha  as  the  founder 
of  the  Mahayana  Faith,  and  yet  there  is  not  a  single 
Mahayana  sect  in  Japan  which  traces  its  official  lineage 
back  to  him.  They  all  go  back  to  Nagarjuna,  who  is 
made  to  be  responsible  for  very  great  varieties  of  doctrine ; 
and  one  or  two  of  them  will  then  add,  in  a  parenthetic 
and  half  apologetic  manner,  that  As'vaghosha  said  some- 
thing of  the  sort. 

The  Zen  teachers  give  him  in  their  list  of  Patriarchs  * 
of  the  Mahayana,  but  do  not  in  any  way  treat  him  as  one 
of  the  pivots  of  their  system.  The  mystic  Kegon,  now 
practically  non-existent,  spoke  of  As'vaghosha  as  their 
founder,  in  the  sense  that  the  germ  of  their  teachings  may 
be  found  in  him  who  first  roused  his  fellow-religionists  to 
faith  in  the  Mahayana,  then  coming  into  the  world ;  but 
their  doctrines  they  derived,  through  Nagarjuna,  from 
some  mysterious  books  said  to  have  been  brought  by  that 
saint  from  some  "  Dragon's  palace  under  the  sea."  And 
the  believers  in  salvation  by  faith  in  the  vow  of  Amida, 

*  It  is  noteworthy  that  there  are  great  discrepancies  in  these  lists. 
Suzuki  ("Awakening  of  the  Faith,"  p.  33)  quotes  five  lists.  In  most 
of  them  As'vaghosha  comes  about  eleventh  or  twelfth,  with  Nagar- 
juna thirteenth  or  fourteenth.  But  in  the  list  given  by  the  Sarvasti- 
Tadins  As'vaghosha  is  12  and  Nagarjuna  34. 


AS'VAGHOSHA  97 

while  acknowledging  that  the  first  signs  of  that  faith  are 
to  be  found  in  As'vaghosha's  treatise,  yet  make  Nagarjuna 
the  first  in  their  list  of  Patriarchs.  ^ 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  uncertainty  about  As'va- 
ghosha's life.  His  advent  is  said  to  have  been  foretold  by 
Buddha  himself,  but  Suzuki,^  who  has  written  a  very  full 
and  candid  account  of  As'vaghosha,  quotes  a  passage  from 
a  book  claiming  to  be  written  by  Nagarjuna,  in  which  it 
is  stated  that,  in  order  to  fulfil  all  the  prophecies  concern- 
ing him,  there  must  have  been  six  As'vaghoshas,  each  of 
whom  "  appeared  to  fulfil  his  mission  according  to  the 
necessity  of  the  time,  and  there  is  no  contradiction  in 
them."  (Nagarj Una's  book  was  translated  into  Chinese  in 
A.D.  401.)  According  to  the  first  of  these  prophecies, 
As'vaghosha  had  been  a  disciple  of  Buddha  in  his  earthly 
life.  When  the  Buddha  was  telling  his  disciples  of  his 
approaching  Nirvana,  he  had  asked  to  accompany  him, 
and  then,  "gazing  at  the  pupil  of  Buddha's  eye,  had 
passed  out  of  life."  In  the  next  prophecy,  Buddha  is 
said  to  have  told  As'vaghosha  that  three  hundred  years 
after  the  Nirvana,  he  would  obtain  an  inspiration  from 
him  which  would  be  for  the  happiness  of  mankind. 
According  to  another,  he  was  to  come  six  hundred  years 
after  the  Nirvana  to  confute  the  heretics.  A  fourth 
prophecy  places  him  in  the  eighth  century  after  the 
Nirvana;  a  fifth  brings  him  back  to  one  hundred  years. 
A  sixth  represents  him  as  having  appeared  to  Buddha, 
seventeen  days  after  his  Enlightenment,  in  the  form  of  a 
monster  serpent  with  86,000  heads  and  86,000  tongues, 
and  to  have  asked  the  Tathagata  86,000  questions  all 
at  once.  This  sixth  legend  was  evidently  invented  to 
bolster  up  the  pretended  revelations  of  the  Kegon  Scrip- 

'  See  translation  of  the  Shoshinge  in  "  Shinran  and  His  Work." 
"  As'vaghosha's  Awakening  of  Faith."     Chicago,  Open  Court. 

H 


98  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

tures,  but  it  is  not  without  its  siguificance  for  the  contem- 
porary Ophite  Gnosticism. 

A  similar  uncertainty  hangs  about  the  name  and  place 
of  birth.  As'vaghosha  ^  is  the  most  common  of  his 
designations;  but  in  Chinese  books  he  is  sometimes 
Punyaditya,  or  Punyasrika,  while  in  Thibetan  he  has  at 
least  eight  other  names.  His  place  of  birth  is  sometimes 
Ayodhya,  sometimes  Pataliputra,  but  Benares  puts  in  a 
claim,  and  so  do  South  India  and  Khorta. 

All  accounts  agree  in  saying  that  he  was  a  Brahman 
by  birth  ;  that  he  wandered  through  many  parts  of  India 
searching  for  knowledge ;  that  he  eventually  fixed  his 
residence  at  Benares,  where  he  acquired  considerable  repu- 
tation as  a  deep  scholar  and  skilled  reasoner.  He  was  a 
pillar  of  Brahmanism,  when,  for  reasons  unknown,  he  was 
converted  to  the  Hinayana.  As  a  Hinayana  monk  he 
acquired  a  great  reputation  for  sanctity. 

The  latter  half  of  the  first  century  was  a  period  of 
trouble,  and  not  for  India  only.  The  Scythians,  who  had 
long  threatened  the  north-western  frontiers,  at  last  made 
their  anticipated  invasion.  The  year  50  saw  the  over- 
throw of  the  last  Greek  princelet  by  the  Scythian  king, 
Kadphises  I.,  who  also  a  little  later  overthrew  the  power 
of  Gundaphorus  of  the  St.  Thomas  legend.  His  successor, 
Kadphises  II.,  extended  his  power  down  the  valley  of  the 
Ganges  as  far  as  the  gates  of  Benares,  which  he  reached 
between  85  and  90  a,d.^  The  whole  of  India  was  in  the 
tumult  of  war.  The  Scythians  were  on  the  move  from 
Bactria  to  Benares,   the   Chinese   under  Panchao   were 


*  Chinese,  Morning;  Japanese,  Memyo.  As'vaghosha  means  the 
Neighing  Horse,  and  it  is  striking  that  he  is  in  certain  Japanese  books 
connected  with  the  "  White  Horse,"  which  is  one  of  the  forms  he  is 
said  to  assume,  e.g.  in  amulets. 

«  Smith,  "  Early  History  of  India." 


AS'VAGHOSHA  99 

marching  to  the  shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  the  Parthians 
were  restless,  there  was  war  on  the  eastern  frontiers  of 
the  Eoman  Empire.  The  White  Horse  of  the  vision  had 
been  succeeded  by  the  red,  black,  and  pale  steeds. 

Benares,  it  is  said,  was  saved  by  the  sanctity  of 
As'vaghosha,  The  Scythian  king  lay  at  its  gates.  He 
was  willing  to  spare  it,  but  he  wanted  money,  and  he 
also  desired  to  impoverish  the  Magadhan  kingdom.  So 
he  laid  upon  Benares  a  fine  of  enormous  dimensions. 
The  King  of  Benares  declared  himself  unable  to  pay  it, 
"  Then,"  said  the  Scythian  king,  "  give  me  Buddha's 
Begging-bowl  and  the  person  of  your  great  sage  As'va- 
ghosha." (An  alternative  story  adds  a  "compassionate 
fowl"  which  would  not  drink  dirty  water  for  fear  of 
killing  the  insects  in  it.^)  Thus  As'vaghosha  and  the 
Begging-bowl  of  Buddha  saved  Benares. 

It  has  been  said  that  it  is  unlikely  that  the  Scythian 
king  should  thus  accept  a  monk  and  a  bowl  in  lieu  of  the 
heavy  ransom  which  he  had  at  first  demanded  from  the 
city  of  Benares.  Yet  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be  said 
in  favour  of  its  probability.  The  Scythian  king  had,  by 
virtue  of  his  recent  conquests  in  Afghanistan,  the  Indus 
valley,  Punjaub,  and  the  Northern- Western  Provinces,  be- 
come the  ruler  of  a  great  Buddhist  kingdom,  and  the 
Buddhist  provinces  of  his  empire  were  about  to  be  in- 
creased by  the  conquests  in  Central  Asia  which  took  place 
a  few  years  later.     Kadphises  II.  (if  it  were  indeed  that 

1  The  "  compassionate  fowl "  I  have  found  in  Japanese  sources, 
besides  those  mentioned  by  Suzuki.  It  is  said  that  As'vaghosha  not 
only  appeared  in  the  forms  of  a  thousand  white  horses,  but  that  he 
also  caused  a  thousand  white  birds  to  sing,  Isseti  no  hakuba  to  genji, 
issen  no  hakucho  wo  nakasMmu.  It  is  said  of  him  that  he  was  a  mani- 
festation or  temporary  incarnation  of  Dai  Komyo  Nyorai,  "  the  great 
Tathagata  of  Light,"  an  expression  which  some  explain  aa.  Vairoc'ana, 
others  as  Amitabha 


lOO         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

monarch)  was,  in  fact,  the  greatest  Buddhist  monarch  of 
the  world.  The  Begging-bowl,  however,  which  is  the  pro- 
totype of  the  Holy  Grail  of  the  Arthurian  legend,^  was  the 
holiest  of  all  relics  of  the  Buddha,  and  its  possession,  like 
the  Sacred  Sword  ^  and  Mirror  of  the  Japanese  Imperial 
House,  brought  with  it  the  recognized  spiritual  headship 
of  the  whole  Buddhist  world.  Neither  Balkh,  nor  Pesha- 
wur,  nor  any  other  city  that  the  Scythian  king  might 
choose  for  his  capital,  could  hope  to  be  the  centre  of 
Buddhism  so  long  as  the  Bowl  remained  at  Benares. 
With  the  Begging-bowl  in  his  possession,  the  Scythian 
king  might  safely  assert  that  the  headship  of  the  Buddhists 
had  been  transferred  to  him.  The  Bowl  meant  very  little 
to  the  King  of  Benares,  for  the  Hinayana  was  losing  its 
prestige,  and  already  that  Hindu  reaction  had  set  in 
which  well-nigh  expelled  Buddhism  from  the  soil  of 
India.  To  the  alien  ruler  of  recently  annexed  Buddhist 
provinces,  its  possession  was  beyond  all  price  important. 

As'vaghosha's  conversion  to  Buddhism  has  been 
variously  described.  According  to  one  story,  he  was  con- 
verted by  the  singing  of  a  bird,  whose  notes  sounded 
like  the  praises  of  Buddha.  According  to  another,  he 
found,  in  a  Buddhist  book,  a  prophecy   of  Buddha's  in 

*  I  will  remind  Celtic  readers  of  the  Welsh  tradition  preserved  in 
Barddas  that  their  ancient  religion  came  to  them  from  Taprobane,  or 
Ceylon.  In  that  case,  it  is  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that  the 
Arthurian  legend  may  have  been  an  adaptation  of  the  Indian  one, 
with  Arthur  as  S'akyamuni,  and  Modred  as  Devadatta. 

*  In  Japan,  the  possession  of  the  sword,  mirror,  and  jewel  makes  their 
owner  the  legitimate  sovereign.  When  the  empire  was  for  a  few  years 
divided  between  two  rival  lines,  the  legitimate  line  was  recognized  by 
these  tokens,  though  it  was  the  other  line  which  eventually  won  the 
day.  The  Huns  had  the  same  tradition  about  the  sword.  But  theirs 
had  been  lost  for  centuries  (can  it  have  been  in  Japan  ?),  and  was  dis- 
covered accidentally  and  brought  to  Attila.  The  possession  of  this 
sword  made  Attila  the  recognized  chieftain  of  all  the  Huns. 


AS'VAGHOSHA  loi 

which  his  own  name  was  mentioned.  According  to  a 
third,  which  comes  from  Thibet,  he  was  converted  by  Arya- 
deva,  a  prominent  disciple  of  Nagarjuna's,  not  by  argu- 
ment or  reasoning,  but  by  a  liberal  display  of  magic  arts. 
According  to  a  fourth,  which  agrees  with  Thibetan  as  well 
as  with  Chinese  authorities,  he  was  reasoned  into  belief 
by  Parsva,  or  Punyayasas.  These  two  men  were  As'va- 
ghosha's  immediate  predecessors  in  the  list  of  Patriarchs. 
Of  the  five  lists  given  by  Suzuki,  three  have  Parsva, 
Punyayasas,  As'vaghosha  as  consecutive  Patriarchs  ;  two 
omit  Punyayasas,  and  go  straight  from  Parsva  to  A'sva- 
ghosha.  It  is  possible  that  Parsva  and  Punyayasas  are 
one  and  the  same  person. 

It  may  be  that  there  is  some  truth  in  each  of  these 
stories.  As'vaghosha  was  a  poet,^  and  Ms  poetical  imagi- 
nation may  have  been  awakened  and  turned  to  Buddhism 
by  the  song  of  a  bird.  He  would  be  neither  the  first  nor 
the  last  man  whose  conversion  has  been  due  to  a  bird's 
song  or  a  beautiful  piece  of  scenery.  Thus  converted,  he 
passes  over  from  the  Hindu  worship  of  Mahes'vara  to 
the  faith  of  S'akyamuni,  only  to  find  that  the  Hinayana, 
seen  from  within,  was  not  all  that  his  fancy  had  painted 
it  from  without.  He  would  not  be  the  first  idealist  that 
has  found  his  dreams  destroyed  by  the  disappointments  of 
the  actualities.  And  yet  we  may  imagine  that  in  this 
period  of  his  life  he  may  still  have  done  good  service  to 
his  new  faith  by  the  publication  of  the  Vajrasud,^  in 
which  he  combats  the  mistaken  Hindu  theory  of  caste. 

So  far  we  may  presume  his  literary  activity  to  have 
gone  in  his  Benares  days.  But  following  in  the  train  of 
the  Scythian  monarch,  he  finds  himself,  in  the  dominions 

'  As'vaghosha's  great  poem  is  the  Buddhacarita,  of  which  there  is 
a  translation  in  S.B.E.,  vol.  xix.,  but  there  are  some  other  minor 
poems  as  well,  in  praise  of  Amida. 

*  See  Journal  Asiatique,  Ser.  X,  vol.  xii.  p.  1  (July,  1908). 


102        THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

of  the  conqueror,  among  what  M.  Sylvain  Levi*  calls 
"  des  cultes,  des  rites,  des  usages  inconnues."  His  new 
companions  are  still  Buddhists,  but  they  have  brought 
with  them  from  Bactria,  Turkestan,  Khotan,  new  ideas, 
foreign  to  the  Hinayanists  of  Benares.  Again  his  imagi- 
nation is  kindled ;  he  recognizes  in  Parsva  a  dialectician 
greater  than  himself,  in  Aryadeva,  the  master  of  a  magic 
more  powerful  than  any  that  he  knows  of,  and  he  accepts 
the  new  and  enlarged  faith,  and  becomes  its  first  great 
exponent.^ 

In  truth,  there  were,  in  germ,  in  the  new  Buddhism 
which  was  then  coming  into  shape  in  the  Indus  valley, 
three  modes  of  expression  which  must  all  be  taken  into 
iaccount,  if  we  would  understand  the  Japanese  Mahayana 
of  to-day.  They  are  not  confined  to  Buddhism :  they  are 
found  in  Gnosticism,  in  Hinduism,  in  Christianity  ;  they 
are,  in  fact,  universals  of  religion.  They  may,  for  brevity's 
sake,  be  termed  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life;  the 
appeal  to  the  affections,  the  intellect,  the  spiritual  imagi- 
nation of  Faith. 

The  new  Life  imported  into  Buddhism,  connected,  as 
we  have  seen,  with  the  Gnosis  of  the  Egyptians,  and 
profoundly  influenced  by  the  Magianism  of  Bactria,  was 
quite  ready  to  assert  its  claim  to  supernatural  powers. 
It  rested  with  As'vaghosha,  while  re-asserting  the  half- 
forgotten  claims  of  S'akyamuni,  to  provide  a  philosophic 
basis  for  the  polytheistic  conceptions  of  the  mixed  multi- 
tude of  the  North-West,  and  thus  to  commend  to  the  people 
of  Hindustan  the  spiritual  authority  of  the  new  Truth 
proclaimed  by  the  new  possessors  of  the  Buddha's  Begging- 
bowl. 

'  See  Journal  Adatique,  Ser.  X.,  vol.  xii.  p.  1. 
*  As'vaghosha's  great  works  are  the  "  Awakening  of  Faith "  and 
the  "  Book  of  Great  Glory."    See  Suzuki,  op.  cit. 


AS'VAGHOSHA  103 

It  is  noteworthy  that  in  doing  so  he  opens  the  Way 
to  Life,  which  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  school  of 
Northern  Buddhism  has  from  the  beginning  interpreted 
as  being  Faith  in  one  who  is  greater  than  S'akyamuni. 

"Therefore"  (these  are  almost  the  last  words  of  his 
Discourse  on  the  Awakening  of  Faith),  "  it  is  said  in  the 
Sutra  that  if  devoted  men  and  women  would  be  filled 
with  concentration  of  thought,  think  of  Amitabha  Buddha 
in  the  world  of  highest  happiness  in  the  Western  region, 
and  direct  all  the  root  of  their  good  work  toward  being 
bom  there,  they  will  assuredly  be  bom  there.  Thus  always 
seeing  Buddhas  there,  their  faith  will  be  strengthened,  and 
they  will  never  relapse  therefrom.  Eeceiving  instruction 
in  the  doctrine,  and  recognizing  the  Dharmakaya  of  the 
Buddha,  they  will  by  gradual  discipline  be  able  to  enter 
upon  the  state  of  truth."  ^ 

It  is  surely  significant  that  at  this  particular  period 
in  the  world's  history  the  very  first  book  which  describes 
itself  definitely  as  belonging  to  the  Mahayana  should  end 
with  a  recommendation  to  faith  in  one  who  bears  such  a 
strange  resemblance  to  Christ. 

»  Suzuki,  op.  cit.,  p.  145.  It  ia  not  known  what  Sutra  is  here 
mentioned,  but  it  is  generally  supposed  to  be  the  Sukhavati  Vyuha. 
If  so,  this  is  the  earliest  mention  of  the  book,  as  it  is  also  the  earliest 
mention  of  the  name  of  Amitabha.  For  the  development  of  the 
doctrine  of  Amitabha,  I  will  refer  the  reader  to  my  "  Shinran  and  His 
Work";  also  to  Haas,  "  Amida  unsere  Zuflucht"  (Leipzig:  Dietrich, 
1910).  The  allusion  to  "  seeing  Buddhas  "  is  capable  of  two  interpreta- 
tions, for  the  word  for  Buddha  may  be  singular  or  plural.  If  singular, 
then  it  refers  to  Amitabha ;  if  plural,  it  refers  to  the  many  inferior 
Buddhas,  who  are  treated  as  so  m£iny  "  members "  (bunshin)  of  the 
True  Buddha  Amida,  who  in  the  Sutra  of  Forty-two  Sections  is  treated 
as  superior  to  all  Buddhas.  The  Japanese  Shingonists,  who  make 
Vairoc'ana  to  be  the  Supreme,  say  that  Amida  is  identical  with  him. 

The  Dharmakaya  is  that  spiritual  body  of  Buddha  which  is  capable 
of  being  spiritually  present  everywhere.  The  conception  ia  not  unlike 
that  of  the  Christian  "  Real  Presence  "  of  Christ. 


104         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

The  name  of  Parsva  who  converted  As'vaghosha  to 
the  Mahayana  gives  a  clue  to  As'vaghosha's  date.  For 
Parsva  was  the  chairman,  or  at  any  rate  an  active 
member,  of  Kanishka's  Great  Council  which  took  place 
at  Jhalamdara  early  in  the  second  century.  We  may 
therefore,  with  a  certain  amount  of  confidence,  place  As'va- 
ghosha about  the  year  A.D.  80  or  90,  some  twenty  or 
thirty  years  after  St.  Thomas,  and  about  the  same  period 
before  Kanishka's  Council.^ 

'  I  would  refer  my  readers  to  Professor  Anesaki's  article  on  As'va- 
ghosha in  vol.  i.  of  Hasting's  Encyclopaedia  of  Beligion  and  Philosophy, 
and  to  a  long  article  by  M.  Sylvain  in  the  Journal  Asiatique  for  July 
and  August,  1908. 


CHAPTER   XII 

Nagarjuna 

We  may  consider  that  As'vaghosha,  a  native  apparently 
of  Saketa,  and  for  many  years  a  resident  of  Pataliputra 
or  Benares  (probably  the  latter),  brought  into  the  newly 
formed,  or  reformed,  Mahayana  a  certain  Magadhan  or 
Central  Indian  element.  We  may  suppose  that  a  sage 
of  his  wisdom,  learning,  and  reputation  would  do  much 
to  strengthen  the  dying  cause  of  Hinayana  Buddhism 
in  the  very  land  of  its  birth,  by  raising  it  to  a  higher 
level  of  aim  and  endeavour,  and  to  nobler  because  truer 
views  of  life  and  duty. 

But  the  Kushan  or  Indo-Scythian  rulers,  in  their 
newly  awakened  zeal  for  the  propagation  of  a  religion 
with  which  seemed  to  be  bound  up  their  hopes  of 
the  over-lordship  of  the  fair  peninsula  of  Jambudvipa, 
where  they  might  rule  in  peaceful  possession,  no  matter 
what  might  be  the  disturbances  raised  by  Huns  and 
Alani  on  their  far  distant  Central  Asian  frontiers,  were 
by  no  means  contented  with  spiritual  influence  on  the 
Ganges  plains  alone.  All  India,  they  might  reasonably 
argue,  ought  to  be  won  to  the  reformed  Buddhism  of 
which  they  were  the  acknowledged  heads,  as  the  possessors 
of  Buddha's  Begging-bowl.  If  India  could  thus  be  won 
to  spiritual  allegiance,  the  temporal  allegiance  would  not 
be  far  off.  Only,  to  win  all  India,  there  must  be  a  religious 
platform  which  all  India  could  accept. 


io6         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

In  Nagarjiina  they  found  a  man  admirably  suited 
for  the  carrying  out  of  their  designs  of  recommending 
their  enlarged  faith  to  the  spiritual  conscience  of  India. 
A  Brahman  by  birth,  he  was  born,  somewhere  about  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century,^  in  Southern  India.  As 
a  Brahman,  he  was  one  of  the  hereditary  exponents  and 
custodians  of  religion  and  faith,  but  seems  at  first  to 
have  had  but  scanty  reverence  for  his  privileges.  He 
went  the  way  of  "  gilded  youth,"  threw  himself  into  a  life 
of  dissipation,  and  thoughtlessly  profaned  his  birthright. 
But  one  night  he  and  three  of  his  companions  broke  into 
the  palace  of  the  Eajah,  partly  for  robbery,  partly  for 
intrigue  with  the  ladies  of  the  princely  harem,  and  were 
discovered.  Nagarjuna  managed  to  escape  in  safety,  but 
his  three  companions  were  taken  and  killed. 

This  was  the  turning-point  in  his  career.  Why  had 
he  been  saved,  while  his  companions,  no  more  culpable 
than  himself,  had  been  overtaken  by  the  vengeance  of 
man,  if  not  of  Heaven  ?  He  recognized  in  his  escape  the 
hand  of  some  unseen  Providence,  and  from  that  moment 
determined  to  walk  worthy  of  his  sacerdotal  birthright. 

But  the  Brahmanism  of  the  day  (we  must  remember 
that  it  was  not  yet  the  reformed  and  elevated  Brahmanism 
which  at  a  later  date  drove  Buddhism  out  of  India)  failed 
to  satisfy  him,  and  he  turned  to  Buddhism.  This  too — 
it  was  the  distracted  Hinayaaa — failed  to  give  him  rest. 
He  read  books  without  end,  yet  arrived  not  at  the  truth, 
until  at  last  he  went  as  a  wandering  religionist  to  the 
country  of  the  Nagas,  among  the  Himalayas,  where  he 
found  peace  and  guidance. 

»  There  is  no  definite  date  to  be  given  for  Nagarjuna,  about  whom, 
as  about  As'vaghosha,  there  are  many  legends.  But  he  took  part  in 
Kanishka's  Council  (so  it  is  said),  and  in  that  case  his  birth  must  have 
taken  place  about  the  time  I  have  assigned  for  it. 


NAGARJUNA  107 

A  Japanese  writer/  in  whose  conscientious  scholarship 
I  have  learned  to  put  much  confidence,  says  that  his  first 
journey  was  to  a  shrine  of  Adi-Buddha  ( —  ^),  whom 
Japan  looks  upon  as  Amitabha,  the  Supreme  and  Original 
Buddha,  from  whom,  as  from  a  source,  comes  everything 
that  is  called  Light  in  the  human  mind.  Adi-Buddha 
is  essentially  a  Himalayan  cult,  and  it  would  be  among 
those  mountains,  if  anywhere,  that  Nagarjuna  would  meet 
with  such  a  teaching.  At  this  shrine  he  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  a  Bodhisattva  of  the  name  of  Mahanaga 
(Dai-ryu),  who  taught  him  the  faith  in  Amida  Buddha, 
and  finding  him  an  adept  in  spiritual  understanding,  con- 
ducted him  to  the  Palace  of  the  Dragons  (Nagas)  under 
the  sea,  and  there  revealed  to  him  treasures  of  wisdom 
and  doctrine  which  had  been  kept  hidden  for  long  genera- 
tions, but  which  could  now  be  communicated  to  men, 
inasmuch  as  the  destined  ^  expounder  of  the  secret  doctrine 
had  at  length  appeared. 

From  the  Himalayas  Nagarjuna  went  again  to  the  south 
of  India.  Here  he  had  a  similar  experience,  one  which  we 
should  be  justified  in  treating  as  being  the  same  as  the 
one  mentioned  in  the  previous  paragraph  were  it  not  that 
the  treatment  of  the  Japanese  Mahayana  requires  that  we 
should  consider  them  as  separate  phenomena.  In  Southern 
India  he  is  said  to  have  found  an  Iron  Tower  (a  shrine  of 
some  sort,  we  may  suppose,  like  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas 
at  Mailapur)  in  which  dwelt  an  aged  Bodhisattva  of  the 
name  of  Vajrasattva  (Jap.  Kongosatta).  Vajrasattva  was 
the  authorized  exponent  of  a  teaching  which  emanated  from 
a  Buddha  named  Vairoc'ana,  who  was  greater  than  S'akya- 

»  Tada  Kanae,  "  Shoshingekowa,"  p,  225. 

*  In  the  Lankavatdra  Sutra  (Jap.  Ryogakyo)  Shaka  is  made  to 
prophesy  the  appearance  of  Nagarjuna  six  hundred  years  after  his 

Nirvana. 


io8         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

muni.  Vairoc'ana  claimed  to  be  the  one,  the  original  Buddha, 
just  as  Amitabha  did;  and  yet  the  two  seemed  to  be 
different.  Nagarjuna  listened  with  sympathy :  Vajrasattva 
recognized  that  his  spiritual  successor  had  arrived,  com- 
mitted the  secret  Teachings  to  him,  and  gave  him  the 
rite  of  Abhis'ekha,  a  rite  which  is  half  Baptism  and  half 
Ordination. 

We  shall  presently  come  back  to  these  points.  For 
the  present  we  will  merely  summarize  what  we  have  said, 
and  remind  the  reader  that  Nagarjuna  had  personally 
"sampled"  very  much  of  the  religious  thought  of  India. 
He  had  been  a  Brahmanist  and  a  Hinayanist.  He  had 
then  become  a  Mahayanist,  and  since  his  conversion  to 
that  faith  he  had  come  into  contact  not  only  with  the 
faith  in  Amitabha,  but  with  faith  in  Vairoc'ana,  with  the 
Dragon's  Palace,  with  the  Iron  Tower,  with  the  Nagas, 
and  with  the  religionists  whose  special  symbol  is  the 
Vajra. 

He  then  retired  to  South  India,  where  he  spent  the 
rest  of  his  days  in  writing  books  and  evangelization.  The 
Japanese  historians  whom  I  have  read  say  nothing  about 
his  connection  with  Kanishka's  Council;  they  say  that 
after  long  and  successful  labours  he  died  at  Kosala,  in  the 
northern  portion  of  South  India. 

He  was  a  voluminous  writer  (the  reader  will  find  a 
long  list  of  his  works  in  the  pages  of  Nanjo's  "  Catalogue 
of  the  Tripitaka"),  and  his  influence  on  Northern  Bud- 
dhism has  been  so  great  that  one  is  not  astonished  to 
read  that  he  was  revered  by  many  as  a  second  Buddha,  a 
teacher  whose  authority  equalled  that  of  S'akyamuni  him- 
self. 

He  may  be  said  to  have  settled,  for  Buddhism,  the 
long-disputed  question  of  the  existence  of  the  soul,  which 
had  troubled  generations  of  Buddhist  thinkers. 


NAGARJUNA  109 

Buddhists  had  long  been  divided  into  Astikas  and 
Nastikas,  the  one  party  maintaining,  with  the  Sarvasti- 
vadins  and  others,  the  existence  of  the  soul,  the  reality 
of  life  after  death,  the  existence  of  an  Oversoul,  and  the 
other  denying  all  these  things,  and  in  some  cases  even 
allowing  to  material  substances  no  more  than  a  pheno- 
menal existence.  Nagarjuna's  philosophy  mediated  between 
the  two  views.  The  Madhyamika  system,  of  which  he 
was  the  interpreter,  taught  that  the  soul  might  be  said  to 
exist  or  not  to  exist,  according  to  the  way  in  which  you 
looked  at  it.  The  soul  of  the  individual  is  like  the  wave 
of  the  sea,  it  has  an  apparent  separate  existence  for  a 
moment,  then  it  disappears  in  the  body  of  the  ocean  once 
more.  It  was  never  a  distinct  entity.  So  with  the 
Buddhas :  they  appear  in  the  world,  and  we  look  upon 
them  as  individual  Beings.  But  that  is  all  only  apparent. 
Buddhas  and  Saviours  are  but  waves  that  appear  on  the 
surface  of  the  ocean  of  God's  love.  They  come  and  they 
go,  and  men  talk  of  their  deaths  or  their  Nirvanas ;  but 
the  ocean  of  God's  love  is  unchanged.  Only  the  surface 
waves  have  changed.  It  was  thus  that  Nagarjuna  was 
able  to  recognize  the  essential  oneness  of  Amitabha,  of 
Vairoc'ana,  of  S'akyamuni.  It  was  thus  that  the  Maha- 
yana  faith,  of  which  he  was  the  great  doctor,  was  able 
to  adapt  itself  to  the  Taoism  of  China,  to  the  Shinto  of 
Japan.  It  was  thus  that  the  Buddhist  gnosis  of  the 
second  century  tried  to  overthrow  the  Christian  faith  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  Docetism  is  nothing  but  the  Mad- 
hyamika doctrine  applied  to  the  problem  of  getting  rid  of 
the  offence  of  the  Cross  and  the  uniqueness  of  Christ. 

Nagarjuna  did  not  reject  the  teachings  of  either  Astikas 
or  Nastikas.  He  divided  Truth  into  two  parts,  an  apparent 
truth  and  a  true  truth,  a  distinction  which  is  constantly 
cropping  up  in  Japanese  Buddhism.     The  one,  Zokutai,  is 


/ 


no    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

"  truth  by  general  consent,"  the  truth  as  held  by  Nastikas, 
who  believed  that  nothing  existed.  The  other,  Shintai,  is 
"  true  truth,"  the  fulfilment  of  truth,  which  was  to  make 
perfect  that  which  the  Astikas  held  in  part  only.  The 
one  is  the  absolute  Truth,  the  other  is  the  Truth  adapted 
to  the  mental  and  spiritual  circumstances  and  capacities 
of  the  hearers.  The  distinction  is  to  be  found  in  every 
Buddhist  sect  in  Japan;  it  underlies  the  distinction 
between  the  two  classes  of  hearers  in  Manichaeism.  Was 
it  not  the  whole  contention  of  the  Gnostics  that  ordinary 
Christianity  was  but  a  form  of  Zokutai,  a  "truth  by 
common  consent,"  and  that  they  themselves  were  the 
possessors  of  the  Shintai,  "  the  true  Truth,"  the  perfect 
Gnosis  ? 

Nagarjuna  is  further  credited  in  Japan  with  having 
taught  that  there  are  two  ways  of  life,  the  one  a  road  of 
difficulty  and  pain  {nangyodo),  the  other  one  of  ease  and 
pleasure.  In  the  first,  the  aspu'ant  after  salvation  takes 
the  hard  road  of  asceticism,  of  fastings  and  penance,  etc., 
and  thus  labours  to  work  out  his  own  salvation ;  in  the 
second,  he  throws  all  his  own  efforts  aside,  puts  his  faith 
in  One  who  has  effected  salvation  for  him,  and  so,  like  a 
ship  with  a  stout  sail  and  a  favourable  wind,  attains  the 
haven  of  his  hopes.^  It  is  for  this  reason  that  Nagarjuna 
is  considered  by  all  the  Amitabha  sects  in  Japan  as  the 
great  Founder,  after  S'akyamuni,  of  their  Faith.  For,  in 
deed,  the  "  Faith  in  Another  "  is  Faith  in  Amida.  Amida 
is  the  One  Original  Buddha  {ichi-Butsu,  hon-Butsu), 
besides  whom  there  is  none  other,  and  who  has  had  no 
beginning.  He  has  manifested  himself  time  and  again  to 
men ;  in  the  Suhhdvati  Vyuha,  for  instance,  there  is  a 
list  given  of  eighty-one  such  manifestations.     At  the  last 

*  See  my  "  Shinran  and  His  Work,"  p.  51.    I  have  in  that  book 
very  fully  discussed  the  doctrinal  bearings  of  the  Faith  in  Amida. 


NAGARJUNA  iii 

he  manifests  himself  as  a  person  whom  the  Japanese  call 
Hozo  Biku,  makes  a  vow  for  the  salvation  of  man,  and 
works  it  out  until  he  has  established  a  Paradise  where  he 
himself  reigns  in  power,  and  into  which  all  may  enter 
who  have  the  faith  to  call  upon  him.  Nagarjuna  does  not 
claim  to  have  invented  this  doctrine.  He  claims  to  have 
found  it,  and  we  know  that  the  doctrine  must  have  existed 
in  India  before  A.D.  147,  for  we  know  that  in  that  year 
the  Sukhavati  Vyuha  was  taken  by  two  men,  Anshikao  and 
Lokaraksha,  to  China.  We  may  safely  say  that  Amidaism 
was  a  portion  of  the  faith  of  Mahayana  Buddhism  from 
the  middle  part  of  the  second  century.  Before  that  time 
our  notices  of  it  are  somewhat  vague.  Nagarjuna  may  be 
considered,  by  his  clearly  announced  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  Faith,  to  have  laid,  as  far  as  Indian  Buddhism  is  con- 
cerned, the  foundation  of  that  Third  Vehicle  which  may 
be  said  to  be  the  One  and  True  Mahayana.^ 

^  Japanese  very  often  divide  the  doctrines  of  S'akyamuni  into  three 
Vehicles.  These  are  sometimes  called  the  Hinayana,  the  Apparent 
Mahayana  (i.e.  of  the  Abhidharmas),and  the  True  Mahayana  (in  which 
there  is  always  salvation  by  faith,  though  the  object  of  faith  may  be 
Amida,  Vairoc'ana,  S'akyamuni,  or  all  the  Buddhas).  At  other  times 
they  are  also  spoken  of  as  the  Vehicles  of'  S'ravakas,  Pratyekabuddhas, 
and  Bodhisattvas,  and  this  is  the  view  taken  in  the  Saddharmapundarika. 

If  we  turn  to  Irenseus,  whom  we  may  consider  a  somewhat  younger 
contemporary  of  Nagarjuna's,  we  get  the  first  mention  of  the  Ophites, 
a  Buddho-gnostic  sect,  known  by  various  names,  such  as  Naassenes, 
Peratse,  Marcosians,  etc.,  all  of  whose  doctrines  are  very  similar.  Perhaps 
the  best  account  of  these  sectaries  will  be  found  in  Hippolytus,  "  Ref. 
omn.  Haer.,"  bk.  v.  These  men,  he  says,  assert  that  the  beginning 
of  all  things  is  "  a  Man  and  the  Son  of  Man  "  (a  term  which  will  apply 
either  to  Ajnida,  or  to  Christ,  or  to  S'akyamuni) ;  that  he  has  three 
bodies— spiritual,  psychic,  material  (which  is  true  both  of  Amida  and 
of  S'akyamuni) ;  that  he  has  three  natures — one  that  of  the  blessed 
man  above,  of  Adamas  (Sans.  Ajita),  which  is  trueof  Amida ;  a  second 
a  mortal  one,  below  on  earth ;  and  a  third,  which  is  above  and  has  no 
king  over  it  (Hippolytus,  op.  cit.,  bk.  v.  pp.  150-151,  ed.  Migne).  This 
"  Man  and  the  Son  of  Man  "  has  appeared  in  various  parts  of  the 


112    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Nagarjuna  is  also  treated  by  Japanese  Buddhists  as 
having  been  the  first  man  to  bring  into  Buddhism  a  set  of 
doctrines  known  as  the  Avatasarnka  or  Kegon.  The  Kegon 
no  longer  exists  in  Japan  as  a  separate  organization,  but 
its  views  still  influence  a  great  many  writers,  and  the 
Kegon  Sutras  have  had  more  influence  on  Japanese  and 
Chinese  religious  art  than  any  other  set  of  the  Sutras  of 
the  Mahayana. 

According  to  the  Sanron  ^  traditions  (the  Sanron  is 
another  sect,  now  extinct  as  a  separate  organization, 
which  claimed  Nagarjuna  for  its  founder),  there  were  three 
collections  of  the  Buddhist  Scriptures  made  immediately 
after  S'akyamuni's  death.  The  orthodox  party  made  one, 
within  the  cave  of  Eajagriha;  the  Mahasanghikas  made 
another,  outside  the  cave  or  in  another  cave-monastery 
not  far  off.  In  the  meantime,  Manjusri  (or  Ananda?  supra, 
Chap.  III.)  and  Maitreya,  who  never  appear  in  Hinayana 
books  as  disciples  of  S'akyamuni,  but  who  are  very  active 
debaters  in  the  Mahayana  Sutras,  formed  a  third  collec- 
tion which  contained  true  Mahayana  books.  The  volumes 
of  this  collection  had  been  gradually  coming  down  into 
the  plains  for  some  years,  from  their  hiding-places  among 
the  Himalayas  and  by  the  Anavatapta  Lake,  and  thus, 
little  by  little,  had  been  sown  in  men's  hearts,  as  they 
were  able  to  bear  them,  the  doctrines  of  the  Mahayana  as 
expounded  by  the  Kegon.  To  Nagarjuna  the  honour  had 
been  reserved  of  bringing  the  whole  collection  to  light 

earth,  each  part  having  its  own  gods  and  saviours  and  godlike  men. 
Such  a  one  was  Jesus,  sumamed  Christ,  a  Man  with  three  natiires, 
three  bodies,  three  powers,  who  came  upon  earth  in  the  days  of 
Herod  (pp.  176-7). 

The  Ophites  also  maintained  that  there  were  three  churches  — 
spiritual,  psychic,  material — an  arrangement  which  again  suggests  the 
three  Vehicles  of  the  Mahayana. 

*  Nanjo,  "  Twelve  Buddhist  Sects,"  p.  51,  etc. 


NAGARJUNA  113 

through  the  kindness  of  the  great  Naga  sage  at  the  Shrine 
of  Adibuddha.^ 

But  the  world  was  not  worthy  of  this  high  doctrine 
collected  by  Manjusri  and  Maitreya.  The  Avatamsaka 
Scriptures  consist  of  six  different  texts.  Two  of  these 
have  never  been  written.  They  have  been  "  kept,"  says 
Nanjo,''  "  by  the  power  of  the  dharanl  or  holding  of  the 
great  Bodhisattvas,  and  not  written  down  upon  palm- 
leaves."  The  third  and  fourth  were  kept  in  the  Dragon 
Palace  under  the  sea,^  and  not  "  committed  to  the  men  of 
Jambudvipa."  The  fifth  was  taken  from  the  Dragon 
Palace  by  Nagarjuna  and  transmitted  to  the  men  of 
India.  A  portion  of  it  was  taken  to  China  by  Anshikao 
and  his  companions.*     The  sixth  reached  China  between 

'  See  Introduction  to  Saddh.  in  S.B.E.,  vol.  xxi.  p.  1.  The  Gand- 
havyuha  is  another  name  for  Kegon.  The  Nagas  were  tribes  of  Indians 
who  worshipped  the  serpent  {ndga),  and  always  appear  as  the  pro- 
tectors of  Buddhism.  The  terms  Ophite  and  Naassene  are  etymo- 
logically  the  same  as  Nagai;  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  while  Nagarjuna 
is  getting  his  inspiration  from  a  Naga  sage,  the  Ophites  in  the  Roman 
Empire  (see  Irenseus,  p.  110,  ed.  Migne)  should  be  proclaiming  in 
a  like  manner  the  "  Wisdom  of  the  Serpent."  In  "  Asiatic  Researches," 
vol.  X.  p.  83  foil.,  mention  is  made  of  a  Christian  king  in  India,  Vijaya, 
who  lived  a.d.  77,  and  was  very  possibly  a  Gnostic.  He  is  spoken  of 
as  a  Takshaka,  a  caste  connected  with  the  Nagas.  Christ  is  also  spoken 
of  as  a  Takshaka,  "a  carpenter,"  and  the  Takshaka  Brahmans  are 
supposed  to  have  been  Christians  originally.  That  there  were  Christiana 
in  India  we  know  from  the  fact  that  Pantaenus,  the  predecessor  of 
Clement  in  the  Catechetical  School  at  Alexandria,  found  Christian 
communities  and  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  there  in  a.d.  189. 

»  Page  57. 

*  In  the  Manichaean  Acts  of  Thomas,  Thomas  builds  a  celestial 
palace,  which  is  fully  described  in  a  poem  by  Sarug  (see  Z.  d.  ni.  Q.,  xxv. 
321,  xxviii.  584).  It  is  apparently  a  palace  in  the  sea,  for  the  words 
occur,  "1st  es  moglich  ohne  Grundlagen  im  Meere  zu  bauen?"  The 
connection  of  the  word  Takshaka  (see  previous  note)  with  Christians  on 
the  one  hand,  and  Nagas  on  the  other,  suggests  the  possibility  that  the 
poem  is  dealing  with  some  of  the  common  folklore  material  used  by 
Buddhists  and  Gnostics  alike. 

*  Nanjo's  "  Cat.  Tripitika,"  No.  102. 

I 


114    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

317-420  A.D.,  having  been  translated  by  Buddhabadra.  It 
is  said  that  AsVaghosha  knew  something  about  it,  and 
that  Nagarjuna  fully  understood  it.  No  other  Indian  teacher 
is  connected  with  it,  nor  does  it  appear  in  China  in  a 
developed  form  until  the  commencement  of  the  Tang 
period.  In  the  same  period,  early  in  the  eighth  century, 
the  Kegon  reached  Japan,  where  it  had  considerable  vogue, 
but  was  afterwards  swallowed  up  and  amalgamated  by  the 
all-embracing  Tendai. 

The  Kegon  claims  to  be  the  first  of  S'akyamuni's 
preachings.  It  purports  to  have  been  delivered,  during 
the  first  week  after  his  Enlightenment,  to  seven  assemblies 
in  Heaven  and  Earth,  all  of  which  he  addressed  simul- 
taneously without  leaving  his  seat  under  the  Bo-tree.  It 
was  delivered  in  a  supernatural  manner,  and  thus  it  came 
to  pass  that  S'ariputra,  Maitreya,  Manjusri,  and  other 
disciples  of  a  much  later  date,  came  to  be  spiritually 
present  at  it.^  It  was  followed  by  teachings  adapted  to 
ordinary  people,  whom  he  led  by  five  stages  to  the 
perfection  which  he  had  found  in  the  spiritual  hearers 
of  his  first  teachings.  The  five  stages  are  (1)  "  smallness," 
the  doctrines  of  Hinayana,  based  on  the  Four  Truths 
and  the  Twelvefold  Chain  of  Causation,  as  explained  in 
the  Agamas ;  (2)  "  beginning,"  i.e.  of  the  Mahayana,  in 
which  the  disciple  is  shown  the  unreality  of  things; 
(3)  the  "  perfection,"  i.e.  of  the  Mahayana,  which  consists 
in  the  realization  of  the  existence  of  the  Bhutatathata,  or 
the  impersonal  God ;  (4)  "  suddenness,"  i.e.  the  direct 
attainment  of  the  knowledge  of  God  by  straight  and 
direct  ,intuition ;  and  (5)  "  completion,"  or  the  absolute 
identity  between  God  and  the  soul.^  Thus  step  by  step, 
according  to  the  Kegon  doctrines,  were  the  believers  led 

»  These  stages  are  Sho  (/h),  Shi  (^),  Ju  {%),  Ton  (i®),  En 
thej  are  of  considerable  importance  in  the  study  of  Tendai. 


NAGARJUNA  115 

to  the  accomplishment  of  that  perfection  -which  S'akya- 
muni  had  seen  before  him  at  the  moment  of  his  Enlight- 
enment. The  doctrine  was  certainly  held  in  China  and 
Japan,  It  has  a  Gnostic  flavour.  Whether  Nagarjuna 
actually  held  it  or  not,  I  am  not  prepared  to  say. 

The  story  of  the  visit  to  the  Iron  Tower  is  rejected  by 
all  sects  in  Japan  except  the  Shingon,  who  make  it  the  basis 
of  their  own  teachings,  and  Xicbiren,  who  was  always  plain- 
spoken,  did  not  hesitate  to  call  Kobo  Daishi  the  "  prize- 
liar  of  Japan  "  {Nihon  no  dai  rridgo)  for  maintaining  the 
truth  of  the  story.  I  have  already  advanced  reasons  for 
believing  that  the  Shingon  is  a  form  of  Egyptian  Gnos- 
ticism, closely  allied  with  Basilidianism  and  the  ancient 
religion  of  Egypt,  and  brought  to  Southern  India  by 
Egyptian  merchants  during  the  first  century  of  our  era.  I 
need  not  repeat  what  I  said.  I  should,  however,  add  that 
the  Japanese  Shingon  retains  what  many  other  sects  have 
discarded — the  practice  of  a  species  of  Baptism,  known  as  Jyj^Aj 
Kwanjo.  It  is  administered  with  water,  it  may  be  re-  / 
iterated ;  it  is  considered  efficacious  against  disease ;  it 
may  be  administered  vicariously  on  behalf  of  the  dead.^ 
As  regards  its  mode  of  administration,  if  the  student  will 
give  himself  the  trouble  to  read  what  Irenseus  (lib.  I. 
cap.  xxi.)  says  of  the  Baptism  administered  by  the  Mar- 
cosians,  he  will  see  a  picture  of  the  Shingon  administra- 
tion, with  its  manual  gestures,  its  mystic  incantations, 
and  even  its  opobalsamum  or  liquid  unguents.  ^.^_^ 

The  truest  disciples  of  Nagarjuna  ^  were  to  be  found  in 

*  I  think  this  will  be  found  to  throw  much  light  on  St.  Paul's  words 
in  1  Cor.  xv.  29.     The  Sanskrit  word  is  Abhis'ekha. 

*  Perhaps  it  would  be  profitable  tOj  note  that,  according  to  Shingon 
writers,  Nagarjuna  lived  to  be  three  hundred  years  old.  For  one  century 
he  was  a  heretic  (i.e.  Brahmanist  and  Hinayanist) :  for  one  century  he 
taught  the  exoteric  Mahayana ;  for  another  century  he  was  the  apostle 
of  the  esoteric  Buddhism  of  the  Shingon.    A  man  who  lives  for  three 


ii6    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

the  Hosso  sect,  founded  by  Hiouen  Thsang  after  his  return 
to  China  from  his  pilgrimage  tours  in  India.  Hiouen 
Thsang  was  a  worthy  follower  of  S'akyamuni,  a  pains- 
taking scholar,  and  a  man  of  judgment.  We  shall  have 
to  consider  his  personality  and  doctrines  later  on.  The 
sect  which  he  founded  has  ceased  to  have  any  organic 
existence  in  Japan. 

hundred  years  may  have  several  opportunities  for  rsidical  changes  of 
opinion. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

The  Missionaries  of  the  Han 

If  we  could  construct  a  comparative  Chronological  Table 
of  the  religious  phenomena  of  Europe  and  Asia  during  the 
first  two  centuries,  we  should  see  that  the  next  Buddhist 
mission  (a.d.  147)  coincided  with  a  mission  sent  by  the 
Kushan  sovereigns  to  the  Han  emperors,  partly,  it  may 
be,  to  carry  out  negotiations  for  a  matrimonial  alliance, 
and  partly,  no  doubt,  to  arrange  for  concerted  action 
for  defence  against  the  Huns  and  other  barbarians  who 
were  threatening  both  China  and  India.  Political  negotia- 
tion and  religious  propaganda  would  seem  to  have  gone 
hand-in-hand. 

The  two  pioneer  missionaries  were  Anshikao  (who, 
from  his  rank  as  Prince  of  Parthia,  may  well  have  had 
some  political  commission)  and  Lokaraksha.  The  two 
arrived  simultaneously  at  Loyang,  or,  at  any  rate,  with 
only  a  comparatively  short  interval  between  them;  the 
rest  came  at  intervals  during  the  seventy  years  that  still 
remained  for  the  Han  dynasty  to  rule.  Six  of  them  are 
mentioned  by  Nanjo,^  but  none  of  them  can  be  compared 
for  industrious  translation  with  the  first  two.  There  must 
have  been  other  missionaries  as  well:  there  are  sixteen 
translations  by  unknown  hands,  and  there  must  surely 
have  been  some  missionaries  whose  methods  were  not 
literary.  In  all,  ninety-six  Sutras  were  translated  during 
the  latter  years  of  the  Han  dynasty,  of  which  Anshikao 
^  Nanjo,  "  Catalogue  of  the  Tripitaka,"  Appendix  II. 


Il8         THE   CREED   OF   HALF    JAPAN 

claims  fifty-six  and  Lokarakslia  twelve.  The  other  six 
men  only  produced  twelve  Sutras  between  them. 

The  first  notable  point  with  regard  to  these  pioneer 
missionaries  is  that  none  came  from  India  proper,  and, 
in  particular,  none  from  Magadha  and  the  plains  of  the 
Ganges.  Two  were  Parthians ;  three  are  described  as 
coming  from  Thibet ;  one  from  the  country  of  the  Yuetchi ; 
the  others  vaguely  as  from  the  Western  region.  They 
were  all  subjects  of  the  Kushan  kingdom,  and  had  there- 
fore all  been  more  or  less  influenced  by  the  Gandhara 
Buddhism  which  had  come  in  with  the  new  era. 

The  leader  of  this  successful  mission  to  China  was  a 
Parthian  prince  known  to  us  as  Anshikao.  His  real 
personal  name  is  not  given  (Anshikao  merely  means 
"  Prince  of  the  Ansi,"  i.e.  Parthians),  but  it  is  said  that 
he  resigned  his  throne  to  his  uncle  in  order  to  become  a 
monk,  and  that  he  was  the  son  of  a  famous  king  who 
had  been  the  enemy  of  Trajan  and  the  friend  of  Hadrian. 
All  this  enables  us  to  identify  him  with  Axidares,  the 
son  of  Pachorus,  whom  his  father  had  nominated  to 
the  Armenian  throne,  shortly  after  a.d.  100,  thereby 
giving  much  offence  to  the  Emperor  Trajan.  Pachorus' 
successor  on  the  Parthian  throne,  his  brother  Chosroes, 
at  once  apologized  to  Eome  for  the  error  in  judgment 
that  Pachorus  had  made,  deposed  Axidares  in  haste, 
nominated  his  younger  nephew  Parthamasiris  in  his  stead, 
and  wrote  to  Rome  begging  for  investiture  on  his  behalf. 
But  Trajan  refusing  to  listen,  Parthamasiris  surrendered 
himself,  and  was  at  first  treated  with  clemency,  but 
was  afterwards  murdered  about  A.D.  115.  There  seems 
to  be  little  doubt  that  the  prince  Axidares,  deposed  about 
A.D.  108  by  his  uncle,  and  ousted  from  his  Armenian 
kingdom,  after  his  brother's  death,  by  a  distant  relative, 
retired  to  a  cloister,  as  others  have  done  who  have  expe- 


THE  MISSIONARIES   OF  THE   HAN     119 

rienced  the  sorrows  of  a  vain  world,  and  eventually,  as 
an  elderly  man  and  a  tried  ecclesiastic,  became  the  leader 
of  the  Buddhist  mission  to  China. 

But  Axidares  (may  we  call  him  by  his  title  Anshikao  ?) 
was  the  nephew  of  Chosroes,  and  the  son  of  Pachorus. 
He  was  therefore  the  nephew  of  King  Tiridates,  and 
consequently  the  nephew  of  that  King  of  Armenia  who 
had  sent  an  invitation  to  the  Apostle  Thomas  to  preach 
the  gospel  in  the  Parthian  dominions.^ 

"  And  here  comes  in  the  most  remarkable  incident  in 
a  remarkable  story : — Tiridates  had  been  a  Mazdean  priest, 
and  was  so  strict  an  observer  of  Mazdean  rites  and  cere- 
monies that,  to  prevent  any  possibility  of  defiling  the 
element  water,  he,  instead  of  taking  the  ordinary  route 
and  embarking  at  Antioch  direct  for  Eome,  insisted  on 
making  the  long  journey  overland  through  the  entire 
length  of  Asia  Minor  to  the  Hellespont,  and  thence 
round  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  to  the  Capital.  His 
grand-nephew,  Axidares,  or  Vargash,  had  taken  orders  in 
Buddhism,  In  his  desire  to  quit  the  vanities  of  a  life 
of  royalty,  whose  instabilities  mocked  him  at  every  step, 
he  had  found  no  refuge  in  Mazdeism  and  no  place  in 
which  a  sorely  tried  spirit  could  find  relief.  The  preach- 
ing of  the  sage  As'vaghosha  had  thrown  a  bridge  over 
the  chasm  between  Mazdeism  and  Buddhism,  and  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity  as  taught  by  St.  Thomas  had 
shown  how  superior  to  the  bondage  of  the  ceremonial 
law  was  the  freedom  inculcated  by  it  as  well  as  the 
new  Buddhism.  Buddhism,  without  breaking  away  from 
Mazdean  tradition,  offered  in  its  conventional  monastioism 
just  that  escape  for  which  the  soul  of  the  sorely  tried 

1  This  and  the  following  paragraphs  I  take  from  a  kind  review  of 
my  book  "  The  Wheat  amongst  the  Tares,"  published  in  The  Anglican 
(Shanghai,  June,  1909)  by  the  late  Mr.  T.  W.  Kingsmill.  See  also  East 
and  West  for  July,  1911. 


120         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

prince  was  longing ;  was  it  any  wonder  that  it,  with  the 
prospect  that  it  offered  of  converting  a  world,  should  have 
prevailed."  ^ 

"  Already  before  the  time  of  As'oka  the  logical  void 
involved  in  the  acceptance  of  Nirvana  had  led  to  the 
evolution  of  a  Maitreya  Buddha,  the  "Future  Buddha" 
of  Kindness,  who  was  to  mitigate  the  ills  of  an  inflexible 
Karma ;  but  the  movement  did  not  here  end,  and  once 
started,  its  mere  vis  inertice  carried  it  on.  Pratyeka 
Buddhas,  those  who  had  without  regard  to  others  attained 
an  individual  Buddhahood,  and  Bodhisattvas,  those  whose 
progressive  Karma  was  insensibly  leading  them  along  the 
"  path  "  to  Buddhahood,  were  the  natural  outcome  of  the 
movement,  and  of  these,  two — Manjusri,  the  Gracious-one, 
and  Avalokitesvara,  the  Pitiful-one — gradually  came  to 
the  front.  At  first  only  mental  abstractions,  the  inevitable 
tendency  was  to  segregate  from  the  magma,  and  condense 
as  personal  Buddhas.  In  the  process  they  came  under 
the  influence  of  the  school  of  As'vaghosha,  when  Manjusri 
easily  was  found  to  take  the  place  of  Cpenta  Armaita, 
Holy  Wisdom,  and  Avalokitesvara  in  like  manner  of 
Khshathra  Vairya,  Perfect  Sovereignty,  both  lieutenants 
of  Ahura  Mazda  in  ruling  mundane  affairs.  So  it  was 
that  when  Amida  came  to  take  in  the  celestial  hierarchy 
the  place  of  The  Buddha,  seats  beside  him  were  found  for 
the  two  great  Bodhisattvas,  Avalokitesvara  and  Manjusri." 

Yet  it  is  noteworthy  that  a  very  great  portion  of  this 
literature  thus  early  translated  into  Chinese  is  Hinayana. 

'  I  quote  another  passage  from  Mr.  Kingsmill's  essay,  because  it 
seems  to  throw  some  light  on  the  origin  of  that  remarkable  Trinity — 
Amida,  Seishi,  Kwannon,  which  plays  such  an  important  part  in  the 
later  developments  of  the  Mahayana.  He  traces  the  origin  of  these 
ideas  to  the  religion  of  Farthia  during  the  Arsacid  sovereigns,  a  theory 
not  at  all  inconsistent  with  the  few  traces  we  get  of  the  worship  of 
Amida  in  the  time  of  Anshikao  and  his  brother  translators. 


THE   MISSIONARIES   OF  THE   HAN     121 

Many  of  the  extra-Indian  provinces  of  the  Kushan  Empire, 
Khotan  to  wit,  and  portions  of  Bactria,  had  been  con- 
verted to  Buddhism  long  before  the  commencement  of 
the  Mahayana  movement,  and,  having  been  converted  to 
Hinayana,  remained  constant  to  their  allegiance,  though 
sectarian  differences,  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  moun- 
tainous countries  between  them,  cut  them  off  from  their 
Hinayana  brethren  on  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Himalaya. 
Besides,  the  dividing-line  between  the  two  Vehicles  was 
hardly  as  yet  sharply  drawn. 

We  may  therefore  safely  conclude  that  the  second- 
century  Buddhist  mission  to  China  was  mainly  an  effort 
made  by  the  Kushans  to  gain  the  friendship  of  that 
portion  of  the  Chinese  people  that  was  predisposed  to  re- 
ligion ;  that  its  members  came  from  extra-Indian  countries 
which  had  long  since  been  Buddhist,  and  which  had  now 
passed  under  the  sway  of  the  Kushans ;  and  that,  whilst  it 
contained  the  beginnings  of  Mahayanism,  it  was  in  the 
main  Hinayana. 

The  next  thing  that  strikes  us  is  the  very  elementary 
character  of  the  Hinayana  Buddhism  that  these  men 
taught.  There  are  some  extremely  elementary  treatises 
amongst  the  Sutras  translated  —  tracts,  for  instance,  on 
the  Four  Truths,  the  Twelvefold  Chain  of  Causation,  the 
causes  of  Pain,  the  duty  towards  parents,  the  punishments 
of  sin,  the  rewards  of  Virtue.  The  publication  of  these 
tracts  seems  to  show  that  the  Buddhist  missionaries  were 
doing  pioneer  work  on  untouched  ground.  The  previous 
mission  of  Kasyapa  Matanga  and  Dharmaraksha  (if 
indeed  it  had  been  a  Buddhist  mission  at  all)  had  evi- 
dently died  out  completely,  and  these  men  had  to  begin 
again.  It  is  only  thus  that  we  can  account  for  the 
necessity  of  publishing  these  elementary  treatises.  It  is 
not  yet  more  than  fifty  years  since  the  re-introduction  of 


122         THE   CREED   OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Christianity  into  Japan,  but  the  day  for  elementary 
treatises  is  past  already.  "We  have  our  Bibles,  our  Testa- 
ments, our  Prayer-books,  our  Catechisms — all  standard 
books,  in  fact — in  Japanese  translations,  and  it  would  be 
next  to  an  impossibility  that  they  should  be  swept  away 
even  by  a  wholesale  "  destruction  of  books  "  such  as  the 
Chinese  indulged  in. 

Had  the  "  Heralding  of  the  Son  of  Man,"  *  as  I  venture 
to  call  it,  been  a  permanent  or  successful  Buddhist 
mission,  it  would  have  left  behind  it  literary  memorials 
which  would  have  made  it  unnecessary  for  the  successors 
of  those  men  to  insist  so  much  on  the  elements  of 
Buddhism,  the  more  so  as  both  missions  seem  to  have 
laboured  in  the  same  city  of  Loyang  and  its  immediate 
vicinity. 

There  are,  however,  certain  very  distinctly  Mahaya- 
nistic  elements  to  be  found  in  these  ninety-six  books  of 
the  Han  translators,  and  notably  in  the  twelve  books  attri- 
buted to  Lokaraksha,  who  comes  from  the  country  of  the 
Yuetchi,  the  very  heart  of  the  Kushan  Empire.  There 
are  likewise  Mahayanistic  traces  to  be  found  in  the 
writings  of  Anshikao,  who  was  very  possibly  a  Parthian 
hostage  at  the  court  of  the  Kushan  kings. 

Thus  we  find  the  use  both  of  mudra  and  of  mantra,  of 
mystic    gesticulations   and    of    apparently   meaningless 

"*■  I  have  already  pointed  out  that  the  oharacter  for  Fo  or  Butsit  (w) 
consists  of  three  elements,  "  man,"  "  arrows,"  "  bow  " — a  reminiscence 
of  Ming-ti's  Vision,  which  bears  a  striking  analogy  to  the  three  first  letters 

of  out  Lord's  name.  But  the  symbols  for  "  arrows  "  and  "  bow  "  (^) 
are  also  used  in  combination,  e.g.  in  translating  the  name  S'ariputra 
into  Chinese,  as  an  equivalent  for  the  Sanskrit  word  x'putra,  "la  son." 
Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  shall  seei  that  the  addition  of  the  element 

•'  man "  \\)t  which  completes  the  whole  compound  {,yfp),  produces  a 
word  which  may  mean  "  Son  of  Man."  See  the  Sutra  on  the  True 
Man  (Nanjo, "  Oat.  Trip.,"  No.  565). 


THE   MISSIONARIES   OF  THE   HAN     123 

formulse  of  incantation.^  These  formulae  and  practices, 
which  have  not  as  yet  received  much  attention  from 
scholars,  are  valuable  to  the  student  of  religion  as  show- 
ing how  far-spread  was  the  use  of  cognate  practices 
during  the  second  century.  We  find  the  mudra  and 
imantra  in  Egypt ;  we  find  them  in  the  Gnosticism  of  Asia 
Minor,  e.g.  amongst  the  Marcosians  mentioned  by  Irenaeus, 
in  North- Western  India,  in  China,  and,  in  process  of  time, 
in  Japan.  The  sacred  language  used  for  the  mantras 
dififers ;  in  the  West  it  is  Hebrew,  in  the  East  it  is  Sanskrit ; 
but  the  manual  signs  made  by  the  worshippers  are  the 
same,  as  are  also  the  seals  or  characters  used  convention- 
ally to  denote  certain  objects.  One  most  interesting  case 
in  point  is  the  so-called  sixteen-petalled  Imperial  Chry- 
santhemum of  Japan.  Dr.  Munro  of  Yokohama  ^  has,  as  I 
have  said,  found  it  in  Egypt  on  a  tomb.  It  is  also  given 
in  the  newly  discovered  book  of  Jao  ^  as  a  "  seal,"  with 
its  appropriate  though  meaningless  mantra:  it  comes  to 
Japan  vid  China  and  appears  at  Kyoto  as  the  "  seal "  of 
the  god  of  Peace,  In  the  twelfth  century  it  appears 
as  the  mon  or  crest  of  the  Emperor  Toba,  who  was  a 
religious-minded  person,  much  devoted  to  the  worship  of 
the  "god  of  Peace."  It  is  to-day  the  Imperial  Crest, 
sacred  to  the  uses  of  the  Imperial  House.  No  subject 
may  have  it  on  anything  that  belongs  to  him ;  and  yet, 
for  the  modest  outlay  of  a  halfpenny,  he  can  procure  at 
the  (modern)  Heian- Jingu,  or  Temple  of  the  God  of  Peace, 
at  Kyoto,  amulets  and  charms,  protective  against  evil, 
which  bear  the  Imperial  Chrysanthemum  Crest.* 

1  Nanjo,  "  Cat.  Trip.,"  Nos,  451,  478. 

*  In  a  lecture  delivered  before  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  in  April, 
1910. 

»  I.  Book  of  Jao.,  cap.  12 ;  in  Schmidt's  German  translation,  p.  269. 

*  Heian  was  the  old  name  of  Kyoto ;  it  means  "  the  city  of  peace," 
the  haven  of  refuge  to  which  Kwammu  fled  from  the  turbulence  and 
intrigues  of  the  Nara  monks. 


124         THE   CREED  OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Another  Mahayana  trace  will  be  found  in  the  Sutra  on 
the  use  of  Images  of  the  Buddha,  ascribed  to  Lokaraksha.^ 
That  it  was  not  until  the  inauguration  of  the  Grandhara 
Buddhism  that  images  were  made  to  represent  the  Buddha 
and  other  prominent  personages,  is  shown  in  Japan  by  the 
use  of  the  term  "  Image  Law  "  to  denote  the  second  phase 
of  their  religion.  For  five  centuries  after  the  Nirvana,  so 
they  say,  the  "  Upright  Law  "  continued.  This  was  to  be 
followed  by  a  thousand  years  of  "  Image  Law,"  after  which 
should  come  the  Age  of  the  Destruction  of  the  Law  in 
which  we  now  are.  It  was,  apparently,  the  Image  Worship 
of  the  Buddhists  that  incited  the  Confucianists  to  make 
images  of  their  own  revered  master.  The  Buddhists  were 
inspired  by  Gandhara  art,  that  art  was  Greek  and  Eoman 
in  its  ideals,  and  thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  art  of 
China,  and  eventually  that  of  Japan,  has  drawn  its 
inspiration  from  Antioch  and  Alexandria, 

Another  trace,  again,  of  the  Mahayana  teachings  may 
be  found  in  the  presence  of  Buddhas  and  Bodhisattvas 
other  than  S'akyamuni.  The  Hinayana  knows  of 
S'akyamuni's  predecessors.  Five  Previous  Buddhas,  as  they 
are  called.  The  Mahayana  has  many  of  them.  In  the 
"  Sukhavati  Vyuha,"  for  instance,  which  is  one  of  the  Han 
versions,  there  are  eighty-one  Buddhas  previous  to  Hozo 
Biku,  who  is  afterwards  known  as  Amitabha,  besides  a 
large  number  of  Buddhas  exercising  their  functions  simul- 
taneously with  and  independently  of  S'akyamuni.  One 
of  these  is  Akshobya,  another  Amitabha,  the  one  represent- 
ing the  East,  the  other  the  West;  the  one  that  perfect 
wisdom  which  is  unmovable  because  it  rests  firmly  on 
the  thought  of  Buddha,  the  other  that  same  perfect  wisdom 
which  has  run  its  course  and  destroyed  its  doubts,  and  so 
is  at  rest.  Many  new  Bodhisattvas  appear:  S'ariputra, 
1  Nanjo,  "  Oat.  Trip,"  No.  289. , 


THE   MISSIONARIES   OF  THE   HAN     125 

Maudgalyayana,  Katyayana,  have  not  attained  to  Buddha- 
hood,  but  Samantaprabha,  Manjusri,  Avalokitesvara, 
Maitreya,  Bhadrapala,  are  all  mentioned.  Some  of  these 
are  evidently  human  Bodhisattvas.  Bhadrapala,  said  to 
have  been  one  of  the  few  laymen  to  attain  to  the 
Bodisattvaship,  is  now  sometimes  installed  in  Japan  as 
the  patron-deity  of  a  temple  bathroom.  Manjusri  and 
Maitreya,  once  fabled  as  disciples  of  S'akyamuni's,  appear 
again  in  re-incarnations.  The  one  appears  in  China  at 
Wutaishan ;  the  other,  while  dwelling  permanently  in  the 
Tushita  Heaven,  is  fabled  at  a  later  time  to  have  come 
down  on  earth  to  preach  for  Asangha.  Only  Avalokitesvara 
is  an  eternal  Being.  He  is  the  son  of  Amitabha.  He  has 
no  earthly  history ;  he  has  come  down  to  earth  at  divers 
times  and  in  sundry  manners,  but  always  to  help  man. 
He  is  intimately  connected  with  Maitreya,  the  Buddha  of 
the  Future,  for  whose  coming  Japan  still  waits.^ 

*  It  is  said  that  the  great  Kobd  Daishi  is  still  awaiting  in  his  tomb 
at  Koya  San  the  coming  of  Maitreya,  the  friendly  one,  to  restore  the 
old  Faith  to  Japan.  His  body,  it  is  said,  does  not  decay,  though  from 
time  to  time  he  requires  a  new  suit  of  clothes.  Thousands  of  devout 
Buddhists  lie  buried  round  him  at  Kdya  San.  They  want  to  be  present 
when  Maitreya  comes  to  wake  Kobo  from  his  sleep.  That  Maitreya 
and  Avalokitesvara  are  connected  may  be  shown  from  the  following 
mantra  in  debased  Sanskrit,  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  able  to 
understand,  but  which  evidently  contains  both  names  :  Noharatanno 
Taraydya  nomaku  Arydvalokiteijimbaraya  Bodhisattvaya  Mahasattvdya 
Mahdkiyaronikydya  taniyata  on,  Maitareyi,  Maitararano  set  maita- 
rakiu  babei  maitroto  banbei  mahamammaya  sovaka.  Om  Maitreya 
sovaka.  Christian  imagination  has  always  fixed  itself  on  Maitreya  as 
the  type  of  Christ ;  but  the  Buddhist  sees  more  clearly  the  analogies 
in  Avalokitesvara.  Avalokitesvara,  they  say,  is  the  spiritual  son  of 
Amitabha,  and  it  is  only  through  AvalokiteSvara  that  Amitabha  can 
manifest  himself.  Thus  when  Amitabha  came  down  to  fulfil  his  vow, 
he  came  as  Avalokitesvara  under  the  earthly  name  of  Hozo  Biku. 
And  many  Japanese  have  told  me  that  Christ  is  an  incarnation  of 
this  same  Avalokitesvara,  the  son  of  Amida,  who  is  the  one,  self- 
originated,  Buddha. 


126         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

It  is  no  longer  the  old  canon  of  the  Tripitaka  that  is 
in  use,  Kasyapa's  collection  of  the  Tripitaka  is  discussed, 
as  are  also  the  charges  against  Ananda  which  kept  him 
outside  the  first  Council  of  the  Sthavira  held  in  the 
Rajagriha  Cave  after  S'akyamuni's  death.  But  Anshikao 
to  some  extent,  and  Lokaraksha  almost  exclusively,  uses 
the  third  canon  of  the  Scriptures,  the  collection  fabled  to 
have  been  made,  independently  of  Sthaviras  and  Maha- 
sanghikas,  by  S'ariputra  and  Maudgalyayana,  parts  of 
which  were  brought  back  to  India  by  Katyayana  at  the 
close  of  the  last  century  B.C.,  and  the  remainder  by 
Nagarjuna  from  the  Dragon's  Palace.  There  is  also  some 
mention  of  the  books  which  Nagarjuna  is  said  to  have 
received  from  Vajrasattva  at  the  Iron  Temple  in  South 
India.  There  are  selections  from  the  Prajnaparamita,  from 
the  Avatamsakas,  from  Abhidharma  S'astras,  all  of  which 
are  books  of  late  origin. 

Five  accounts  are  given  of  S'akyamuni's  Hfe.  The 
Mahayanists  were  as  busy  with  the  life  of  their  Founder 
as  were  the  Gnostics  with  their  Apocryphal  Lives  of  Christ. 
(The  most  advanced  of  higher  critics  will,  I  think,  allow 
that  the  received  Gospels  had  all  been  written  before  the 
latter  half  of  the  second  century.)  There  is  a  striking 
resemblance  between  the  Apocryphal  Gospels  and  the 
Mahayana  Lives  of  S'akyamuni.  In  both,  the  whole  stress 
is  laid  on  the  events  connected  with  the  infancy.  Only 
one  of  the  Apocryphal  Gospels,  that  of  Nicodemus,  deals 
with  the  Death  of  Christ.  Not  one  of  the  lives  of 
S'akyamuni  taken  to  China  by  the  Han  missionaries 
touches  on  the  Nirvana  of  the  Buddha.  The  silence  is 
not  without  its  significance.  Gnostic  and  Mahayanist 
alike  were  by  this  time  face  to  face  with  the  higher 
claims  of  the  Resurrection.  The  insistence  on  the 
paysteries   of    the    Nativity   of  the    Buddha  may   have 


THE  MISSIONARIES   OF  THE   HAN     127 

seemed  to  be  the  right  way  to  offset"  the  Crucifixion  of 
the  "  Son  of  Man  "  and  the  Gospel  of  His  Resnrrection.^ 

A  great  number  of  the  Sutras  deal  with  quite  practical 
subjects — the  curse  of  drunkenness,  the  evils  of  impurity, 
the  twelvefold  chain  of  causation,  the  causes  of  death 
the  duty  of  kindness  to  children,  etc.  Many  of  this  class 
are  to  be  found  in  the  various  Agama  Collections.  Of 
those  which  deal  with  the  life  of  S'akyamuni,  from  his 
birth  to  the  commencement  of  his  ministry,  one  especially, 
the  Adbhuta-dharmapariyaya  by  an  unknown  translator, 
treats  the  whole  subject  in  a  theological  and  supernatural 
manner.  Some  introduce  Bodhisattvas  unknown  to  earlier 
Sutras,  e.g.  Maitreya  and  Manjusri,  sometimes  as  inter- 
locutors, and  sometimes  as  principal  exponents  of  the 
doctrines  taught,  and  we  may  notice  the  gradual  develop- 
ment of  the  Mahayana  in  the  fact  that  whereas  the  Sutra 
of  Forty-two  Sections  constantly  speaks  of  Arhats,  the 
books  translated  by  the  missioners  from  Central  Asia 
often  speak  of  Bodhisattvas,^  and  there  is  a  Sutra  given 
which  contains  an  explanation  of  the  ofifice,  duties,  and 

'  In  connection  with  the  a.d.  67  Mission  to  China,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  early  in  the  first  century  a  rumour  was  current  in 
China  that  Su  Wang  Mu,  the  goddess  of  the  West,  had  given  birth 
to  a  child  who  should  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  This  event  is,  as 
it  were,  crystallized  in  Buddhism,  in  the  female  Kwan-yin,  the  goddess 
of  Mercy,  who  is  so  constantly  represented  with  a  babe  in  her  arms. 
It  is  said  of  this  babe  that  he  was  originally  an  enemy  to  Buddhism, 
but  was  afterwards  converted.  I  seem  to  see  in  this  a  trace  of  that 
very  early  "  heralding  of  the  Son  of  Man  "  in  China.  It  was  merely 
a  heralding,  merely  a  preaching  for  a  witness.  The  remaining  converts 
of  that  early  mission,  or  their  descendants,  may  have  offered  some 
resistance  to  the  Buddhist'  onslaught,  and  then  in  the  end  agreed  to 
some  compromise. 

*  Arhat  is  the  Hinayana  term  for  the  full-blown  disciple.  In  the 
Mahayana,  such  a  person  is  termed  a  Bodhisattva,  the  distinction 
between  the  two  consisting  in  the  fact  that  the  Bodhisattva's  faith  ig 
the  more  altruistic. 


128         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

privileges  of  a  Bodhisattva.  The  new  school  of  Prajna 
philosophy  is  represented  by  a  translation  of  the  Prajna 
Paramita  Sutra  ^  in  10,000  couplets,  but  without  Nagar- 
j  Una's  commentary,  which  was  possibly  not  accepted 
until  the  following  century  (say  about  a.d.  220).  Little 
is  apparently  said  about  the  Previous  Buddhas,  but  two  of 
the  Dhyani  Buddhas  are  mentioned,  Akshobya  and  Ami- 
tabha,  although  the  whole  system  of  the  Five  Dhyaai 
Buddhas  does  not  yet  seem  to  have  been  elaborated. 

Akshobya  appears  in  the  completed  system  of  the 
Dhyani  Buddhas  as  the  Buddha  specially  connected  with 
the  East.  There  is  practically  only  one  Sutra  devoted  to 
him  either  in  the  Chinese  Tripitaka  or  in  the  Thibetan 
Collection.  I  believe  the  Sutra  has  never  yet  been  trans- 
lated into  English,  but  a  translation  into  modern  Japanese 
has  recently  been  published,  which  is,  however,  in  its 
modern  form,  almost  as  obscure  as  the  Chinese  original.^ 
Akshobya  is  especially  connected  with  Manjusri.  He  is 
the  author  of  long  life,  and  much  worshipped  by  means  of 
Dharani. 

Amitabha  we  have  mentioned  before.  It  is  claimed 
by  the  Buddhists  of  Japan  that  he  was  preached  about  by 
S'akyamuni  himself  during  the  last  years  of  his  ministry. 
After  S'akyamuni's  time  he  apparently  vanished  from 
Buddhist  consciousness  ;  possibly  he  was  taken  across  the 
Himalayas  along  with  some  travelling  Buddhists,  and  so 
disappeared  from  the  eyes  of  India.  As'vaghosha^  and 
Nagarjuna  both  worshipped  from  afar;  with  Anshikao  and 

'  This  work  forms  one  of  the  great  books  of  the  Nepaulese  Canon, 
which  does  not,  however,  seem  to  have  been  finally  drawn  up  before  the 
time  of  Vasubandhu,  circ.  a.d.  800. 

*  In  a  popular  book  called  "  Jusan  Butsu  no  Yurai  "  (Tokyo,  1908). 

'  For  As'vaghosha,  see  Suzuki's  "  Awakening  of  the  Faith,"  p.  146. 
Nagarjuna  is  said  to  have  died  with  his  face  directed  to  the  Western 
Paradise.! 


THE   MISSIONARIES   OF   THE    HAN      129 

Lokaraksha  he  reappears  in  a  literary  form,  fully  developed. 
As'vaghosha  and  Nagarjuna  would  only  know  him  by 
repute,  as  being  natives  of  India  proper;  Anshikao  and 
Lokaraksha,  as  coming  from  Central  Asia,  knew  him  more 
fully. 

The  doctrine  of  Amitabha  is  more  fully  developed 
now.  When  S'akyamuni  consoled  the  Queen  of  Bimbisara 
he  merely  pointed  her  to  Amitabha,  whose  mercies  are 
Infinite,  and  who  is  ever  near  to  comfort  the  distressed.^ 
In  the  Sukhavati  Vyuha,  nearly  every  Chinese  translation 
of  which  is  by  Central  Asian  hands,  Amitabha  is  strangely 
and  significantly  changed.  He  has  {more  Buddhico  again) 
been  euhemerized,  so  to  say ;  his  genealogy  is  given ;  he 
is  practically  God  Almighty ;  but  he  was  once  a  man,  and 
his  present  high  station  as  the  Lord  of  the  Western 
Paradise,  the  Father  and  Saviour  of  them  that  trust  in 
him,  the  \pvxoTrofiir6g  meeting  the  soul  at  death  and  plac- 
ing it  in  the  mansion  prepared  for  it,  is  all  the  result  of 
a  vow  made  countless  centuries  ago  by  a  mere  man,  and 
pursued  diligently  through  many  lives,  till  it  has  resulted 
in  the  formation  of  a  Paradise,  and  the  opening  of  a  salva- 
tion through  Faith  for  them  that  invoke  his  name. 

And,  again  significantly  strange,  more  than  a  century 
after  the  Christian  revelation,  in  a  country  in  which  Jews, 
Israelites,  and  Christians  dwelt  side  by  side  with  Bud- 
dhists and  others,  Amitabha  is  produced  in  literary  form, 
developed  into  the  first  member  of  a  quasi-Trinity.  He 
is  accompanied  by  his  son,  Avalokitesvara,  the  bisexual 
expression  of  his  mercy,  who  in  many  forms  and  as  many 
persons,  was  manifested  upon  earth  to  save  the  suffering,^ 

*  In  the  "  Amitayur-dhyani  Sutra,"  S.B.E.,  vol.  xlix.  With  the 
help  of  some  Buddhist  friends,  I  have  nearly  completed  an  English 
translation  of  Lokaraksha's  edition  of  the  S.V. 

*  I  have  a  small  Japanese  "  Catechism  of  Kwannon,"  which  states 
the  doctrine  about  this  deity  very  succinctly. 

E 


130    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

just  as  in  the  account  of  Peratae  and  other  Gnostics,  given 
in  the  "  Philosophumena,"  ^  the  Christ  is  manifested,  in  many 
forms  and  characters,  with  the  Birth  at  Bethlehem  among 
them,  to  give  expression  to  the  mercy  of  His  Father. 
Avalokitesvara  (the  "  Lord  that  looked  down  ")  descended 
even  into  Hell  to  manifest  the  mercies  of  Amitabha ;  his 
companion  Mahasthamaprapta  ^  is  the  embodiment  of 
Amitabha's  strength,  the  Spirit  of  Might,  and  the  three 
together  are  a  significant  shadow  of  the  Persons  of  the 
Christian  Trinity.  It  is  hard  to  avoid  drawing  an  in- 
ference.^ 

'  "  Philosoph.,"  vi.  12. 

*  The  Japanese  Seishi.  He  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  having 
"  destroyed  death,"    He  is  not  a  very  popular  deity. 

'  I  would  strongly  reconamend,  in  connection  with  this  chapter,  a 
perusal  of  a  paper  by  the  late  Dr.  Eehatsek  on  "  Christianity  in  the 
Persian  Dominions,"  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Bombay  Branch 
of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  vol.  xiii.,  1877.  It  shows  very  clearly  the 
knowledge  of  Christianity  which  Anshikao  and  his  companion  must 
have  had. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

Dharmagupta  ^ 

One  of  the  most  important  services  that  S'akyamuni 
rendered  to  his  immediate  disciples,  as  well  as  to  pos- 
terity, was  to  supply  them  with  a  set  of  disciplinary 
rules  of  life.  This  discipline,  known  as  the  Vinaya,  was 
not  given  in  any  formal  manner.  As  the  occasion  arose 
the  Master  spoke  his  mind,  and  thus,  little  by  little, 
during  the  long  years  of  his  ministry,  there  was  formed 
as  it  were  a  corpus  of  miscellaneous  rulings  delivered 
without  any  definite  plan  or  system.  Yet  there  was 
no  contradiction  among  these  rulings,  for  it  was  one  mind 
that  gave  them  all,  and  that  mind  a  singularly  consistent 
and  clear-seeing  one. 

What  the  Vinaya  rulings  lacked  in  system  was, 
furthermore,  more  than  compensated  by  the  definiteness 
which  came  to  them  from  the  fact  that  in  every  case 
they  were  based  on  some  real  fact  or  some  concrete 
difficulty.  If  the  Sutras — those  I  mean,  such  as  most 
of  the  Agamas,  which  can  be  distinctly  traced  back  to 
the  life  of  the  Master — give  us  a  true  picture  of  S'akya- 
muni's  life,  we  cannot  but  conclude  that  his  mind  vacil- 
lated at  times  between  two  or  more  alternative  sets  of 
speculative  doctrines.      Is  there  a  god?     Is  there  such 

'  I  take  this  chapter  mainly  from  6y5nen's  sketch  of  the  Eight 
Buddhist  Sects  in  Japan  ("  Revue  de  I'Histoire  des  Religions,"  vol.  xrv. 
p.  841). 


132         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

a  thing  as  a  soul  ?  Does  the  physical  universe  really 
exist,  or  is  it  all  a  mere  illusion  ?  On  these  points  he 
spoke  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  his  followers  the  largest 
room  for  speculative  differences,  and  if  we  are  disposed 
(not  being  metaphysicians)  impatiently  to  throw  aside 
the  speculations  of  Sarvastivadins,  Sautrantikas,  and  all 
the  babble  of  Hinayana  sectarianism,  if  we  find  it  difficult 
to  see  how  the  term  "  Buddhism  "  can  be  stretched  wide 
enough  to  cover  all  the  variations  of  the  so-called  Maha- 
yana,  we  must  remember  that  it  was  the  studied  vague- 
ness of  the  Master's  own  teaching  that  gave  his  followers 
the  boldness  to  wander  so  far  afield  in  the  wide  daring 
of  their  later  speculations. 

From  all  this  vagueness  of  the  Sutra  pitaka  the 
Vinaya  pitaka  was  saved.  "When  the  Master  gave  rules 
to  his  communities  for  the  sabbath  meetings,  for  the 
confession  of  sins,  for  the  admission  of  women,  for  the 
regulation  of  dress,  etc.,  he  was  obliged  to  be  terse,  clear, 
and  definite.  The*.  Vinaya  rules,  therefore,  give  us  a 
more  trustworthy  picture  of  the  Master's  mind  than  do 
any  of  the  Sutras.  They  make  us  feel  that  we  are  deal- 
ing with  the  real  Buddha,  with  the  real  community  of 
monks. 

It  fell  to  the  lot  of  Upali,  the  barber,  to  record,  from 
his  memory,  at  the  orthodox  Council  at  Eajagriha,  the 
disciplinary  decisions  of  his  Master,  and  to  form  them 
into  a  connected  whole.  His  collection  met  with  favour, 
was  adopted,  and  for  more  than  a  century  was  the 
authorized  canon  of  discipline  enforced  by  the  successive 
Patriarchs — Kasyapa,  Ananda,  Madhyantika,  S'anavasas, 
and  Upagupta.  Upagupta  was  a  contemporary  of  As'oka's, 
and  we  know  from  some  of  As'oka's  monuments  that 
many  corruptions  had  come  into  Buddhism  by  then, 
and  that  the  monks  were  beginning  to  form  cliques  and 


DHARMAGUPTA  133 

schisms  and  to  withdraw  from  communion  with  their 
brethren.  Dharmagupta,  Upagupta's  successor,  whom 
we  place,  therefore,  somewhere  about  B.C.  240  or  a  little 
later,  reformed  the  Vinaya  by  a  new  recitation,*  and 
thus  withdrew  his  followers  formally  from  communion 
with  the  others.  This,  says  Gyonen  (p.  343),  was  the 
first  schism. 

After  this  the  process  of  sect-forming  went  on  very 
rapidly,  and  each  sect  feeling  itself  justified  in  drawing 
up  a  modified  discipline  of  its  own,  it  was  not  long  before 
there  were  twenty  disciplines  where  originally  there  had 
been  but  one. 

We  need  not  stay  to  inquire  what  these  twenty 
disciplines  were.  Only  four  of  them  reached  China, 
and  these  four  were  ultimately  merged  into  one,  the 
survivor  being  a  reformed  edition  of  Dharmagupta's 
reformed  code.^ 

According  to  the  Dharmagupta  s]^tem  of  discipline, 
a  system  which  is  still  largely  in  vogue  in  Japan,  though 
the  old  Vinaya  or  Eitsu  sect  has  long  ceased  to  have 
a  separate  corporate  existence  of  its  own,^  the  faithful 
here  on  earth  are  divided  into  seven  classes.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  scale  come  (i)  the  Ubasoku,  and  (ii)  the 
Uhai,  laymen  and  laywomen,  who,  without  leaving  their 
homes,  desire  to  lead  a  life  of  religion.  Of  these  persons 
it  was  required  that  they  should  keep  the  five  precepts — 
not  to  kill,  not  to  steal,  not  to  be  guilty  of  any  form  of 

^  The  Sacred  Books  had  possibly  not  yet  been  committed  to 
writing ;  they  were  orally  recited,  and  the  oral  recitation  must  have 
been  a  frequent  cause  of  inadvertent  error. 

*  These  four  were  :  (a)  Jubunritsu,  the  Vinaya  (in  Ten  Becitations) 
of  the  Sarvastivadins ;  (6)  Shibunritsu  (Pour  Becitations),  of  the 
Dharmaguptas :  (c)  Oobunritsu  (Five  Recitations),  of  the  Mahis'akas ; 
and  (d)  Soritsu,  the  Vinaya  of  the  clergy. 

*  Early  in  the  Meiji  era  the  Government  forced  the  Bitsu  sect  to 
amalgamate  itself  with  the  Shingon. 


134         THE   CREED  OF   HALF  JAPAN 

lewdness,  not  to  lie,  to  abstain  from  intoxicants.  Further, 
on  the  sabbath  day,'^  the  prohibition  of  lewdness  became 
the  prohibition  of  even  lawful  sexual  intercourse,  and 
there  were  added  a  prohibition  of  the  use  of  perfumes 
and  oils,  of  dances  and  spectacular  shows,  of  luxurious 
couches — of  all  things,  in  short,  that  might  prove  an 
incitement  to  the  passions.  To  these  was  added  as  a 
counsel  of  perfection,  not  to  eat  at  odd  hours. 

Above  the  Ubasoku  and  Ubai  came  (iii)  the  Shami, 
and  (iv)  Shamini,  whom  we  may  call  the  Buddhist 
Endeavour ers.^  These  persons  undertook  to  keep  all 
the  above  rules  permanently.  They  further  added  a 
rule  which  forbade  them  to  receive  gold,  silver,  or  precious 
objects  of  any  kind ;  they  made  a  vow,  that  is,  of 
Perpetual  Poverty.  Higher  up  in  the  scale  came  (v) 
the  Shiki  Shamana,  a  higher  giade  of  ascetics,  who  added 
what  are  known  as  the  Six  Doctrines.  They  would  not 
kill  even  a  mosquito ;  they  undertook  to  be  scrupulously 
honest,  even  in  regard  to  the  smallest  sums  of  money ; 
they  would  not  touch  a  woman ;  they  would  not  tell 
even  a  white  lie;  they  never  drank  fermented  liquors; 
and  they  never  took  meals  out  of  hours. 

Finally  came  the  full-fledged  monks  and  nuns,  (vi) 
the  Biku,  and  (vii)  the  Bikuni.  These,  as  the  Vinaya 
came  to  be  influenced  more  and  more  by  Mahayanistic 
ideas,  were  looked  upon  as  candidates  for  the  rank  of 
Bodhisattva,  and  were  consequently  called  upon  to  under- 
take the  Bosatsu  Kai  or  Gusohu  Kai,  the  rules  of  the 
Bodhisattva,  or  the  Complete  Rules. 

The  Bodhisattva,  in  the  Mahayana  Conception,  is  the 

»  The  observance  of  the  weekly  sabbath  was  one  of  the  primitive 
features  of  Buddhism.  The  Buddhists  of  Japan  are  beginning  to 
observe  the  day ;  perhaps  in  time  to  come  they  will  do  so  still  more. 

*  The  Sanskrit  word  SWamana  has  the  idea  of  "  endeavouring." 


DHARMAGUPTA  135 

man  who  has  arrived  at  the  "  jumping-off  place  "  of  life, 
if  we  may  so  call  it.  He  might  enter  into  Nirvana  if 
he  chose,  but  he  does  not  choose.  He  is  freed  from 
the  necessity  of  life  and  death ;  there  is  nothing  to  force 
him  back  to  the  monotonous  wheel  of  life ;  but  of  his 
own  free  will,  and  moved  by  compassion  for  the  ignorance 
and  misery  of  his  fellow-creatures,  he  deliberately  chooses 
a  continuance  of  his  earthly  existence  in  order  that  he 
may  live  for  others  and  not  for  himself.  Such  is  the 
by  no  means  unworthy  aim  that  is  set  before  the  Buddhist 
follower  of  the  Mahayana  Discipline.^ 

In  order  to  reach  to  that  end  the  candidate  for  Bodhi- 
sattvaship  must  observe  a  multitude  of  rules  (250  for  a 
man,  348  for  a  woman),^  of  which  we  may  give  the  fol- 
lowing summary  account,  taken,  however,  from  sources 
posterior  to  the  Wei  period,  and  representing  the  system  in 
its  fuller  developments. 

There  are  four  deadly  sins  for  which  there  is  no  for- 
giveness in  this  life :   sexual  intercourse,  theft,  murder. 


^  It  must  be  remembered  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  Bodhisattvas 
and  Buddhas — human  and  superhuman.  Ningen  no  uchi  ni  mo  Hotoke 
ga  ari,  Bosatsu  ga  aru.  Ningen  igwai  ni  ni  mo  Hotoke  ga  ari,  Bosatsu 
ga  arimasu.  The  superhuman  Bodhisattvas,  such  as  Avalokite^vara 
and  Mahasthamaprapta,  have  no  human  history  ;  they  are  essentially 
extra-human  and  unborn,  and,  though  they  may  from  time  to  time 
assume  human  or  other  forms,  are  incapable  of  death.  But  S'akyamuni 
is  the  example  par  excellence  at  a  human  Buddha  or  Bodhisattva.  After 
his  Enlightenment  he  might  have  passed  at  once  into  his  Nirvana  of 
Rest ;  but  for  the  sake  of  suffering  humanity  he  remained  where  he 
was.  During  the  whole  of  his  ministry  he  was  a  Bodhisattva,  with 
power  to  lay  down  his  life  and  to  take  it  again  whenever  he  chose.  At 
his  Nirvana  he  became  a  Buddha.  The  Japanese  use  the  phrase 
soTiushinjohutsu,  '"attainment  of  Buddhahood  in  the  present  body," 
to  describe  the  state  of  the  Bodhisattva  who  "  need  not  return  again" 
(/«  tai  ten). 

'  The  250  Bosatsu  Kai  are  explained  in  the  Bommokyo  (Brahma- 
jalasutra). 


136         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

falsehood.  He  who  commits  these  sins  forfeits  all  hope 
of  the  Bodhisattvaship  for  the  present.  These  sins  are 
known  as  harai  (Sans.  Pardjika). 

Another  set  of  sins,  thirteen  in  number,  are  considered 
as  very  grave,  though  they  do  not  altogether  destroy  the 
spiritual  character  of  the  sinner.  They  are  (i)  self- 
defilement  ;  (ii)  coming  into  contact  with  a  woman ; 
(iii)  slander;  (iv)  self-praise,  with  a  view  to  getting  an 
increase  of  alms  ;  (v)  acting  as  a  go-between  in  arranging 
a  marriage ;  (vi)  speaking  evil  to  the  clergy ;  (vii)  calum- 
nies against  the  clergy ;  (viii)  disobedience  to  the  orders 
of  a  religious  superior ;  (ix)  exciting  another  monk  to  such 
disobedience ;  (x)  going  to  the  house  of  a  layman  to  cause 
quarrels;  (xi)  to  disregard  the  wishes  of  the  community 
and  to  cause  divisions.  Two  more  rules  (xii  and  xiii) 
concerned  the  building  of  a  house,  with  one's  own  money, 
or  with  the  contributions  of  the  faithful. 

Another  set  of  offences  against  the  law  of  Poverty 
could  only  be  removed  by  purificatory  ceremonies.  These 
concerned  the  prohibition  of  two  coats,  the  one  garment 
that  is  always  to  be  worn  even  at  home,  unnecessary 
dishes,  importunity  in  asking  for  alms,  etc. 

Again,  others  would  necessitate  a  sojourn  in  Purgatory 
(JigoJcu)  before  emancipation  could  be  accomplished : 
white  lies,  duplicity,  digging  the  earth,  cruelty  to  animals, 
intoxicants,  meals  at  unseasonable  hours,  etc. 

Then  followed  minute  rules  for  the  deportment  of  the 
monks  and  nuns.  The  Vinaya  sects  laid  great  stress  on 
the  observation  of  these  rules,  for  they  said,  again  with  a 
certain  amount  of  truth,  that  if  a  man  would  follow  the 
discipline  of  Buddha  he  would  come  to  know  of  his 
doctrine.^ 

The  Han  translators  had  spoken  only  on  Sila,  or 
•  See  Nanjo,  '•  Twelve  Buddhist  Sects,"  p.  20. 


DHARMAGUPTA  137 

Morality.  Anshikao  had  translated  a  Sutra,  said  to  have 
beea  spoken  by  the  Buddha  himself,  on  "the  lightness 
and  heaviness  of  the  sin  of  transgressing  the  Sila ; "  ^ 
and  Ch'  Huen  had  translated  another  which  illustrated 
the  Mahayana  conception  of  the  Sila  by  showing  how  the 
Bodhisattva  {i.e.  S'akyamuni  in  his  earthly  ministry) 
had  kept  the  Six  Paramitas,  or  Cardinal  Virtues  of  the 
Mahayana.^  He,  whose  life  was  a  pattern  for  the  Bud- 
dhist monk,  had  shown  (i)  liberality  and  generosity; 
(ii)  the  morality  of  self-restraint  and  chastity ;  (iii) 
patience ;  (iv)  steadfastness  of  purpose  and  energy  in  the 
pursuit  of  Truth;  (v)  self-collectedness  and  the  power 
of  meditative  concentration  of  self;  (vi)  the  power  of 
applying  to  daily  life  the  lessons  acquired  by  the  steadfast 
and  thoughtful  pursuit  of  the  truth  by  a  generous  and 
pure  mind. 

But  the  Han  translators  had  apparently  been  con- 
tented with  a  mere  sowing  of  Buddhistic  seed — another 
indication  of  the  fact  that  they  were  truly  the  pioneers 
of  Buddhism.  They  said  nothing  about  discipline,  and 
they  had  made  no  attempt  to  introduce  into  China  the 
order  of  monks. 

The  great  Han  dynasty  came  to  an  end  in  a.d.  214, 
having  held  China  in  one  way  or  another  under  its  con- 
tinuous sway  ever  since  B.C.  206.^  The  assassination  of 
the  last  Han  ruler  led  to  a  prolonged  civil  war,  at  the 
conclusion  of  which  we  find  China  divided  into  the  king- 
doms of  the  Wei,  the  Wu,  and  the  Shu.  Buddhism  had 
been  before  the  people  for  several  years  now  —  fully 
seventy,  if  we  reckon  only  from  the  time  of  Anshikao's 

'  Nanjo,  "  Cat.  Trip.,"  No.  1112. 
*  Ibid.,  No.  435. 

'  The  Former  or  Western  Han  were  in  power  from  B.C.  206  to  a.d, 
25 ;  the  Latter  or  Eastern  Han  from  a.d.  25  to  a.d.  214. 


138    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

mission.  Several  important  events  had  taken  place  in 
China  during  that  time.  Perhaps  the  most  significant 
was  the  arrival  in  China  of  a  Eoman  mission  which 
reached  Loyang  by  way  of  the  sea,  in  a.d.  166,  thus  open- 
ing another  route  to  China  of  which  the  Indians  and 
Arabs  soon  learned  to  avail  themselves. 

The  gradual  desiccation  of  Central  Asia,  the  process  of 
the  drying  up  of  the  waters,  which  laid  waste  the  fertile 
plains  of  Khotan,  Ferghana,  Bokhara,  and  Transoxiana, 
and  which  drove  forth  to  more  happy  lands  the  hosts  of 
the  barbarians,  was  in  fuU  swing.  The  Hans  in  China, 
the  Kushans  in  India,  were  equally  concerned  in  defend- 
ing their  territories  against  these  dreaded  invaders,  and 
many  embassies  passed  between  them  during  the  last  half 
of  the  second  era.  It  was  the  age  which  saw  Pao  Chao's 
noble  sacrifice  and  his  victory  over  his  barbarous  foes.^ 

After  the  fall  of  the  Han  dynasty  and  the  division 
of  China  into  three  hostile  camps,  the  Kushans  sent  no 
more  embassies.  It  was  useless  to  appeal  for  help  to  the 
helpless  kingdoms  of  China.  The  Kushans  themselves 
had  suffered  from  the  inroads  of  their  enemies.  In  spite 
of  temporary  successes  during  the  first  decade  of  the  third 
century,  they  lost  ground  rapidly  and  steadily ;  by 
221  A.D.  they  were  confined  to  Sind,  Punjaub,  Kabulistan, 
and  Kashmir.  Several  of  their  fairest  Buddhist  provinces 
had  been  lost,  and  the  hegemony  of  Hindustan  was 
passing  into  other  hands.  The  Andhras  were  in  posses- 
sion for  the  time  being ;  the  rise  of  the  Imperial  Gupta 
Dynasty  was  already  a  "  coming  event." 

The   short-lived    Chinese  kingdom   of   Shu    has    no 

*  Pao  Chao'a  wife  and  mother  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  barbarians, 
■who  placed  them  in  the  van  of  their  army,  and  threatened  to  put  them 
cruelly  to  death  unless  Pao  Chao  withdrew  his  forces.  Pao  Ghao  was 
in  great  distress,  but  the  exhortations  of  his  wife  and  mother  prevailed, 
and  he  resolved  to  do  his  duty  by  his  country. 


DHARMAGUPTA  139 

importance  for  the  Buddhist  historian.  It  contained  within 
its  boundaries  no  already  established  centre  of  Buddhist 
teaching,  and  apparently  attracted  no  missionaries.  The 
southern  kingdom  of  Wu  will  require  a  special  note  ;  ^  to 
the  translators  of  the  Wei  dynasty  (a.d.  220-265)  I  will 
devote  a  few  words  as  a  fitting  conclusion  to  this  chapter. 

There  are  only  five  names,  responsible  for  seven 
Sutras,  and  there  are,  besides,  two  Sutras  by  unknown 
hands.  Of  the  five  men,  two  (Than-ti  and  An-fah-hien, 
A.D.  254)  come  from  the  country  of  the  Ansi,  i.e.  Parthia, 
one  (Po-Yen)  from  the  Western  Eegions  (Khotan),  one 
(Dharmakala)  from  Central  India,  and  a  fifth  (Sangha- 
varman)  from  India  via  Thibet,  or  vice  versa.  Three  of 
these  men  brought  with  them  the  Vinaya  of  the  Dhar- 
magupta  School,  which  I  have  been  explaining  in  this 
chapter,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  on  which  in  later 
years  the  Chinese  and  Japanese  orders  of  monks  were 
erected. 

Of  other  subjects,  outside  of  the  Vinaya,  they  give 
us  two  volumes  of  the  dialogues  of  which  Buddhists  are 
so  fond,  the  Questions  of  Ugra  (N"o.  23)  and  those  of 
Surata  (No.  43),  a  translation  of  the  Sutra  of  the  Great 
Decease  (No.  5,  now  lost) ;  one  on  the  Names  and  Sur- 
names of  the  Seven  Buddhas  (No.  626) ;  a  treatise  on 
Immortality  as  contained  in  the  Abhidharma  (No.  1278), 
and  three  translations  of  the  Sukhavati  Vyuha,  of  which 
only  Sanghavarman's  (No.  27)  has  survived. 

It  says  much  for  the  opinion  that  the  Doctrine  of 
Faith   in   Amitabha  is   the   true   representative   of    the 

'  It  was  from  the  kingdom  of  Wu  that  Japan  ohtained  its  first 
acquaintance  with  Chinese  letters,  and  especially  with  Confucianism. 
To  this  day  the  ordinary  pronunciation  of  Chinese  words  in  Japan  is 
called  Oo-on,  the  Wu  pronunciation.  The  Buddhists  have  a  pronuncia- 
tion of  their  own,  known  as  Kan-on,  **  the  pronunciation  of  Han,"  i.e. 
Northern  China.    The  numbers  are  from  Nanjo's  Catalogue. 


I40         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Japanese  Mahayana.^  We  have  already  seen  it  dimly 
in  As'vaghosha ;  we  have  seen  Nagarjuna  learning  it 
from  the  Naga  chieftain.  In  a.d.  147  the  book  contain- 
ing that  doctrine  is  taken  to  China ;  before  a.d.  250  five 
versions  of  that  book  had  been  made.  It  looks  as  though 
the  Han  and  "Wei  missionaries  were  using  the  historical 
S'akyamuni  as  a  means  whereby  to  point  men  to  the 
unhistorical  Amitabha  and  his  spiritual  son,  in  whose 
story  there  lies  enshrined  the  essence  of  the  story  of  man's 
redemption  as  preached  by  St.  Paul.  The  story  of  Ami- 
tabha was  needed  by  those  early  missionaries  of  the  faith 
of  S'akyamuni  to  give  life  to  the  otherwise  dead  rules 
of  the  Dharmagupta  Vinaya.  Its  historical  counterpart 
is  now  changing  and  quickening  the  dead  bones  of 
Japanese  Buddhism  and  preparing  the  way  for  what  will 
be  one  of  the  most  remarkable  conversions  in  the  religious 
history  of  the  world. 

From  the  fall  of  Han  in  A.D.  220  to  the  rise  of  the 
Tang  in  A.D.  618,  China  was  rarely  united.  For  the 
greater  part  of  this  period  of  four  centuries,  two,  three, 
four,  even  five  or  more  dynasties  ruled  side  by  side,  as 
rivals  and  competitors,  within  the  empire.  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  write  a  history  of  the  China  of  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries ;  it  •  is  still  more  difficult  to  give 
anything  like  an  adequate  description  of  the  religious 
policy  of  the  conflicting  states,  or  to  trace,  step  by  step, 
the  gradual  growth  or  decline  of  Buddhist  doctrines  in 
the  whole  empire  during  this  period. 

Some  of  the  dynasties  were  influenced  mainly  by  the 

*  The  Japanese  and  Ohinese  Vinaya  sects  afterwards  adopted  Vai- 
roc'ana  as  their  central  deity,  and  it  was  for  this  reason  that  they  were 
forced  to  join  themselves  with  the  Shingon.  But  Vairoc'ana  and  Ami- 
tabha are  in  idea  identical.  They  both  represent,  in  idea  at  least, 
the  *'  Son  of  Bighteousness  with  healing  in  His  wings,"  preached  to  the 
Far  East  by  Qnostics  who  used  Buddhist  terminology. 


DHARMAGUPTA  141 

literati,  who  were,  to  a  man,  the  followers  of  Confucius, 
and  the  enemies  of  everything  that  called  itself  a  religion 
of  the  supernatural.  Others,  again,  were  Taoists  from 
conviction,  and  others  Buddhists  or  Taoists  from  con- 
viction or  policy.  Occasionally  attempts  were  made 
to  unite  these  conflicting  faiths.  Thus  we  have,  about 
A.D.  240,  an  attempt  at  unifying  Confucianism  and  the 
Mahayana,  by  introducing  the  images  of  the  Wuti,  or 
Five  Kulers  {i.e.  the  five  Dhyani  Buddhas),  into  the 
Temples  of  Confucius,  made  without  success.  An  equally 
unsuccessful  attempt  forcibly  to  effect  an  amalgamation 
of  Buddhism  with  the  religion  of  Tao,  in  A,D.  555,  was 
probably  the  measure  which  gave  to  the  Japanese  a  few 
years  later  the  idea  of  the  Byohi-Shinto,  or  amalgamation 
of  Buddhism  with  Shinto,  which  lasted  until  the  restora- 
tion of  Meiji. 

India,  in  the  meanwhile,  was  undergoing  many  a 
political  and  religious  convulsion,  and  the  monks,  per- 
secuted by  the  Brahmans  at  home,  took  refuge  in  China, 
bringing  with  them  each  the  books  that  had  affected  him 
in  his  native  land,  and  translating  them  into  Chinese  for 
the  benefit  of  the  native  peoples.  It  is  interesting  to  turn 
over  the  leaves  of  the  Appendix  to  Nanjo's  Catalogue 
and  analyse  the  lists  of  translators  by  dynasties,  by  books, 
and  by  the  countries  from  which  they  came.  Thus  the 
translators  of  the  Wei  dynasty,  which  ruled  at  Loyang 
from  220  to  265,  come  either  from  Central  India  or 
Parthia,  but  all  bring  with  them  the  Yinaya  books  of  the 
Dharmagupta  sect  of  the  Hinayana.  Under  the  Wu 
(222-280)  at  Nankin,  we  get  none  but  Central  Indian 
monks,  and  scarcely  any  but  Hinayana  books,  or  at  least 
books  which,  like  the  Dharmapada,  belong  equally  to 
both  Vehicles.  The  Western  Tsin  at  Loyang  (265-316), 
with  Dharmaraksha,  as  facile  jprinceps  of  the  band,  give 


142         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

us  mostly  theological  treatises  of  the  Mahayana,  from  the 
pens  of  translators  who  come  from  Ansi,  Khotan,  and 
the  western  provinces  of  China  proper.  The  former 
Lian,  with  capital  at  Kutsan  (302-376),  furnish  but 
one  book,  translated  by  a  man  from  the  Yuetchi  country. 
The  Eastern  Tsin  (at  Nankin,  317-420)  give  us  a  long 
list  of  translators  from  Kabul,  Kharachar,  Central  Asia — 
one  of  them  a  descendant  of  S'akyamuni's  uncle — and 
some  translate  works  of  a  practical  rather  than  a  religious 
character :  spells  for  relieving  toothache,  bad  eyes,  crying 
babies,  and  people  suffering  from  summer  sickness.^  The 
Lian  (502-557)  at  Nanking  have  translators  who  come 
by  sea  from  Siam.  It  would  be  unprofitable  to  continue 
this  list  any  further.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  books  came 
in  by  the  thousand,  representing  all  the  conflicting  schools 
of  Buddhist  thought,  and  hailing  from  every  country, 
north,  west  or  south,  in  which  Buddhism  was  represented. 
Buddhism  itself  almost  died  under  the  weight  of  its  own 
books,  and  of  the  institutions  which  it  had  brought  with 
it  from  India. 

Several  practical  reforms  ought  to  be  noticed.  In 
A.D.  335  a  monk  named  Buddhoganga  persuaded  King 
She-hu  of  the  Posterior  Chow  dynasty  to  institute  ordina- 
tions and  allow  Chinese  natives  to  take  monastic  vows.^ 
This  permission  greatly  changed  the  nature  of  Chinese 
Buddhism.  In  India  it  had  been  the  custom  for  kings  to 
support  the  Order  by  their  royal  bounty,  and  the  custom 
obtained  at  first  in  China  also,  thus  keeping  the  Order 
as  an  exotic  and  aristocratic  institution.  But  when 
Chinese  natives  took  the  vows,  the  Order  increased  very 
rapidly,  and  Buddhism  became  a  thing  belonging  to  the 
people  rather  than  to  the  sovereign. 

*  In  the   popular  Bukkyogvmon  Eaitoshu,  vol.  iii.,  there    is  an 
exposition  of  several  of  these  short  *'  speU-sutras." 

»  This  I  touch  on  agajn  jn  my  chapter  on  ^Q\m  Buddhism. 


DHARMAGUPTA  143 

In  A.D.  401,  Kumarajiva  was  brought  to  China,  and 
was  welcomed  at  Chang-an  by  the  sovereign  of  the  Latter 
Tsin  Dynasty.  Kumarajiva  suggested,  and  carried  out, 
a  revision  and  retranslation  of  the  older  works,  some  of 
which  had  been  but  roughly  translated  by  the  earlier 
missionaries.  This  secured  a  large  measure  of  popularity 
for  the  revised  versions  of  the  Tripitaka.  In  520, 
Bodhidharma,  the  then  patriarch  of  Mahay  anism,  left 
India  and  came  to  China  to  avoid  the  persecution  of  the 
Brahmanists,  where,  finding  the  block  of  literature,  he 
swept  the  whole  of  the  Tripitaka  aside,  declaring  that 
the  essence  of  Buddhism  is  to  find  the  "  heart  of  Buddha  " 
by  meditation,  as  Buddha  himself  had  done.  In  399, 
Fahian  started  on  a  journey  to  India,  to  investigate 
Buddhism  at  its  fountain-head. 

It  is  noteworthy,  says  M.  Ch.  Pithon,  in  an  article 
in  the  China  Review  (vol.  xi.),  on  the  History  of  China 
under  the  Tsin  Dynasty,  that  the  Posterior  Chow  and  the 
Tsin,  who  did  so  much  for  Chinese  Buddhism,  were  really 
Huns,  and  ruled  over  a  large  proportion  of  Hiungnu 
subjects.  The  Huns  all  over  the  world  stood  by  one 
another,  and  the  chief  of  all  the  Huns  was  Attila  (A.D. 
445),  whose  word  was  law  from  the  frontiers  of  Gaul  to 
those  of  China.  How  much  of  Buddhist  teaching  came 
into  Christian  folklore  and  superstition  through  Hunnish 
soldiers  in  the  regiments  of  Attila,  it  would  require  a 
large  treatise  to  investigate.^ 

In  372  a  Chinese  monk  preached  Buddhism  in  the 

»  The  annexed  quotation  may  possibly  throw  some  light  on  these 
Buddhist  ordinations.  The  reader  will  remember  that  the  period  with 
which  we  are  now  dealing  was  the  period  when  Europe  was  being  over- 
run by  barbarian  hordes  from  Central  Asia.  Eunapius,  "  Historia," 
pp.  82-83  (in  "  Scriptores  Historise  Byzantinae  "),  has  an  interesting 
paragraph  relating  to  this  subject.  It  deals  with  the  year  376,  and 
speaks  about  the  Goths.    If  these  are  to  be  identified  with  the  Yuetchi, 


144         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Korean  kingdom  of  Koma,  or  Kaoli,  and  thus  at  length, 
after  a  long  and  eventful  history,  the  Way  was  brought  to 
Japan  in  the  year  545  A.D. 

they  may  (must  ?)  have  been  Buddhists  before  entering  Europe.  (See 
Flinders  Petrie  on  "  Migrations  "  in  Journal  of  Anthropological  hist.) 

<pv\a\  /iff  yap  Twy  iroKe/jLio)!/  t}ji/  apxh"  Stafiefi'fjKeiray  &ireipot,  Kol 
irKfiovs  iiriSiifiaivov,  ovSfvhs  kw\vovtos  '  a\\'  iv  roaoinois  kukoTs  KtpSos 
iS6K€i  yvi\(Tiov  rh  SupoSoKeTadai  irapi,  ruv  iro\€fi.iuv,  efx*  '*  kK<i<m\  <f>v\i) 
Itpi  re  otKoOiv  rb,  iriTpia  avyetpeAKOfifVT},  koI  Upeas  rovrwy  koI  Upeias ' 
&AAct  ffTiyavi]  Tis  ^v  Xiav  Koi  ada/xdivrivos  r)  irepi  ravra  aiaiiri)  Kal  rHv 
avojiltiJTaiv  exf/J^v6la,  7}  Si  e/s  rh  (pavfphv  Trpoairolriffis  Kui  irKdffis  fls  rijv 
Twv  vo\e/j.lwv  airaTijv  SirjpTvUfvri.  Kai  Tivas  us  f-Ki(rK6irovs  avrwv  is  Th 
Oav/xaC^fifvop  ax^Hixa  KaTaaroXiaavrts  Kai  'mpiKvif/ames,  Kal  iroWfjs  avrois 
TTJs  aXdweKos  iirixeavTfs,  els  rh  ixiaov  irpofiplearav,  iratnaxov  rh  a.(pv\aKrov 
5ta  TWV  KaTaippovovfjiivwv  fipKuv  -nap'  iKflvois,  irapa  Se  to7s  fia<Tt\ev(ri  (T(p6hpa 
<pv\aTro/j.fV(i>v,  inroTpvxovrfS  Kal  KaTa<TKevdCoPTfs.  ^p  Bh  Kal  twv  KaKov/xfVuy 
fiovaxwv irap' avTo7s  yivos,KaTb.  fxiixtiaiv twv iraparois  TroKejAois  iirirriSivdfifvov, 
ovSfv  ^xotJtrijs  TTJS  fiiirfifffws  vpayfiarwSes  Kal  SuctkoKov,  oAA'  t^ijpKei  fpaii 
ifjidria  avpovai  Kal  x^fwvta,  irov7tpo7s  Te  elvai  Kal  trKrTfveadat,  Kal  tovto  ofe'ws 
avvfTSov  01  PdpPapoi  to  Oav/ia^Sfievov  irapcb  'Pw fiaiois  els  irapaywy^v  iiriTTiSev- 
aavres  '  iirel  t<£  ye  &Wa  /iteret  fiaddrryros  Kal  aKemjs  Srt  ftoKiffra  (TTeyavwT&Ttis 
rwv  airo^f)-i\Twv  to  vaTpia  lepk  yevviKws  re  Kal  iZoKws  (poXdrTovres,  o'&rw  he 
iX^VTwv  TovTuv,  '6/j,ws  els  ToaavTr]v  &voiav  e^evTcl>Ke<rav,  SxTTe  (rvfnreweiirdat 
ffatpws  Kal  Sifia  iKax^s  tovs  SoKovvras  vovv  fx*"*!  2t(  ;i^p/(rTtavoi  Te  elai 
Kal  wdffais  Tals  Te\eTa?s  avexovTes. 

In  the  above  extract,  note  (i)  that  the  religion  is  to.  trdrpia  lepd,  a 
faith  brought  with  them  from  Central  Asia ;  (ii)  that  the  institution 
of  quasi-bishops  seems  to  be  spoken  of  as  a  recent  innovation,  and 
that  it  corresponds  in  point  of  time  with  what  we  know  of  Chinese 
ordinations';  (iii)  that  black  {<(>ai6s)  suits  what  we  know  of  Shinshii 
and  Jodo  monks ;  (iv)  that  it  corresponds  with  what  we  know  from 
other  sources  about  the  confusion  between  Buddhist  arhats  and 
Christian  "  saints."  The  object  of  the  ruse  was  to  deceive  the  Romans 
into  believing  that  the  barbarians  were  already  Christians.  The  work 
of  Ulfilas  came  later,  at  any  rate  in  its  influence,  and  his  institutions 
could  not  be  described  as  being  "  ancestral  rites  "  of  the  Goths. 


CHAPTER   XV 

Manich^ism 

When  we  reach  this  point  in  our  history  of  the  Mahayana, 
it  behoves  us  to  turn  a  glance  to  that  great  religious 
movement  which  began  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century. 
Mani,  or  Manichaeus/  to  give  him  the  name  by  which 
he  was  generally  known,  was  born  in  A  D.  215,  almost  con- 
temporaneously with  the  fall  of  the  Han  Dynasty.  He 
was  descended  from  a  distinguished  Persian  family  which 
had  emigrated  from  Ecbatana  in  Persia,  and  had  settled 
in  Babylonia.  His  early  days  were  spent  amongst  the 
Mugtasilahs,  or  Baptizers,*^  a  sect  which  his  father,  Fathak, 

*  Mani  means  a  painter.  I  have  often  wondered  if  there  can  be 
any  connection  between  the  name  Manichssus  and  the  famous  Buddhist 
monastery  of  Manikyala.  I  draw  my  materials  for  this  chapter  mainly, 
though  not  entirely,  from  Kessler's  article  on  Mani  in  the  "  SchaS — 
Herzog  Encyclopaedia."  It  is  probable  that  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years  our  knowledge  of  Manichaeism  will  be  much  increased  as  a  result 
of  recent  finds  in  Central  Asia. 

*  The  Mendseans  or  Mandseans  still  subsist,  in  a  very  small  com- 
munity, on  the  eastern  banks  of  the  Tigris.  They  are  sometimes  called 
the  Christians  of  St.  John,  on  account  of  the  great  veneration  they  pay 
to  St.  John  the  Baptist,  whom  they  consider  to  have  been  a  true 
prophet,  in  contradistinction  to  Abraham,  Moses,  Solomon,  Jesus  the 
Sorcerer,  and  Mahomet,  all  of  whom  they  consider  to  have  been  false 
prophets.  The  true  religion,  they  say,  still  existed  in  the  days  of 
Moses,  and  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Egyptians,  and  was  brought 
back  into  the  world  by  St.  John.  It  was  this,  doubtless,  that  turned 
Mani's  thoughts  towards  Egypt  in  his  travels  in  search  of  religion. 
The  official  name,  among  themselves,  for  their  religion  is  Mandd, 
which  is  Gnosis.     But  Manda  is  personified,   as  it  is  among  the 

L 


146         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

joined  shortly  after  Mani's  birth,  a  sect  out  of  which 
sprang  in  later  years  the  sect  of  the  Mandaeans,  and  which 
was  undoubtedly  a  form  of  Gnosticism.  But  the  boy 
separated  himself  from  this  body  when  he  was  about 
fourteen,  choosing  to  spend  the  next  eleven  years  in  travel- 
ling in  search  of  a  religion.  I  believe  I  am  right  in 
saying  that  some  of  the  recently  discovered  Central  Asian 
manuscripts  now  in  the  Berlin  Ethnographical  Museum 
show  conclusively  that  his  travels  at  this  period  embraced 
Egypt. 

It  was  from  Egypt,  though  indirectly,  that  he  obtained 
the  books  which  eventually  gave  a  definite  shape  to  his 
religious  speculations.  The  story  is  told  by  St.  C}Til 
of  Jerusalem  ("  Cat.  Lect.,"  vi.  22).  It  has  been  almost 
uniformly  rejected  by  modern  scholars ;  but  I  hope  that 
what  I  have  been  able  to  show  of  the  existence  of  Buddhism 
in  Alexandria  during  the  first  century  of  our  era  may  lead 
some  scholars  to  reconsider  their  verdicts.  I  will  give 
St.  Cyril's  own  words,  which  are  mainly  taken  from  the 
Acta  Archelai. 

"  There  was  in  Egypt  one  Scythianus,  a  Saracen  ^  by 
birth,  having  nothing  in  common  either  with  Judaism  or 
with  Christianity.  This  man,  who  dwelt  at  Alexandria 
and  imitated  the  life  of  Aristotle,  composed  four  books — 
one  called  a  Gospel  which  had  not  the  Acts  of  Christ,  but 

Buddhists,  and  so  becomes  a  sort  of  counterpart  of  the  personified 
though  indefinite  Butsu  of  which  many  Japanese  Buddhists  speak 
(especially  the  followers  of  the  old  Ritsu  or  Vinaya  sect,  now  amalga- 
mated with  the  Shingon).  They  also  talk  of  themselves  as  "  Subba," 
i.e.  "  Baptists,"  and  their  Baptismal  rites,  oft  repeated,  are  again,  like 
those  of  the  Marcosians  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  very  similar 
to  those  of  the  Shingon  Kwanjo.  Like  many  Japanese  Buddhists, 
they  have  a  special  veneration  for  the  Polar  Star  (Jap.  myoken), 
towards  which  they  turn  when  praying. 

'  I  have  already  shown  how  widely,  even  in  As'oka's  days,  was  the 
expansion  of  Buddhism  among  non-Indian  peoples. 


MANICH^ISM  147 

the  mere  name  only;  and  one  other  called  the  Book  of 
Chapters ;  and  a  third  of  Mysteries ;  and  a  fourth,  which 
they  circulate  now,  the  Treasure.  This  man  had  a  disciple, 
Terebinthus  by  name.  But  when  Scythianus  purposed 
to  come  into  Judsea^  and  make  havoc  of  the  land,  the 
Lord  smote  him  with  a  deadly  disease,  and  stayed  the 
pestilence.  But  Terebinthus,  his  disciple  in  this  wicked 
error,  inherited  his  money  and  books  and  heresy,  and 
came  to  Palestine,  and  becoming  known  and  condemned 
in  Judsea,  he  resolved  to  pass  into  Persia ;  ^  but  lest  he 
should  be  recognized  there  also  by  his  name,  he  changed 
it  and  called  himself  Buddas.^  However,  he  found  adver- 
saries there  also  in  the  priests  of  Mithras;  and  being 
confuted  in  the  discussion  of  many  arguments  and  con- 
troversies, and  at  last  hard  pressed,  he  took  refuge  with  a 
certain  widow." 

Here  Terebinthus  died.     "  The  books,  however,  which 
were  the  records  of  his  impiety,  remained ;  and  both  these 

1  In  the  "  Acta  Archelai  "  we  read,  "  Scythianus  thought  of  making 
an  excursion  into  Judaea,  with  the  purpose  of  meeting  all  those  that 
had  a  reputation  there  as  teachers."  And  this  is  said  to  have  been  in 
the  days  of  the  Apostles.  See  my  paper  on  the  "  Formative  Elements 
of  Japanese  Buddhism,"  in  Trans..  As.  Soc.  Japan,  vol.  xxxv. 

*  In  the  "  Acta  Archelai  "  it  is  "  Babylon,  a  province  which  is  now 
held  by  the  Persians." 

*  Does  the  name  of  some  great  Mahayanist  doctor — for  instance, 
Nagarjuna— lurk  behind  Terebinthus?  Nag  is  the  name  of  a  tree, 
"the  arjuna  tree  sacred  to  the  worship  of  the  Nagas,"  and  always 
appears  in  Japanese  as  Ryu  ju,  the  "tree  of  the  Dragon"  or  Naga. 
Can  it  be  that  the  name  of  Nagarjuna  was  similarly  translated  into 
Greek,  and  that  the  terebinthus  was  the  "  sacred  tree  of  the  Nagas  "  ? 
Nagarjuna's  date  corresponds  roughly  with  that  assigned  to  Tere- 
binthus. There  is  a  great  similarity  of  ideas  between  Nag.  and 
Manichseism ;  the  "  Thibetan  Life  of  Nagarjuna,"  translated  by  Mr. 
Das  in  J.A.S.  Bengal,  speaks  of  a  journey  westwards  undertaken  by 
Nagarjuna,  and  Nagarjuna,  like  Terebinthus,  was  known  amongst  his 
contemporaries  as  "  Buddha."  The  establishment  of  this  conjectural 
identification  would  clear  up  many  difficulties. 


148         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

and  his  money  the  widow  inherited.  And  having  neither 
kinsmen  nor  any  other  friend,  she  determined  to  buy  with 
the  money  a  boy  named  Cubricus ;  him  she  adopted  and 
educated  as  a  son  in  the  learning  of  the  Persians,  and 
thus  sharpened  an  evil  weapon  against  mankind.  So 
Cubricus,  the  vile  slave,  grew  up  in  the  midst  of  the 
philosophers,  and  on  the  death  of  the  widow  inherited 
both  the  books  and  the  money.  Then,  lest  the  name  of 
slavery  might  be  a  reproach,  instead  of  Cubricus  he  called 
himself  Manes,  which  in  the  language  of  the  Persians 
signifies  *  Discourse.'  "  ^ 

In  the  year  a.d,  242,  at  the  coronation  of  King  Sapor  I., 
Manes,  now  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and  fed  upon  the 
doctrines  of  the  Baptizers,  and  of  the  Aristotelian  and 
Buddhist  philosophy  of  the  Scythianus  books,  as  well  as 
on  the  varied  experiences  of  his  Wanderjahre,  proclaims 
his  new  reUgion.  It  was  an  auspicious  moment.  King 
Sapor  was  the  successor  of  Ardashir,  who  had  driven  out 
the  Parthian  dynasty  and  restored  a  Persian  Empire  under 
the  Persian  dynasty  of  the  Sassanid  House.  It  was  a 
strictly  nationalistic  movement,  encouraged  by  the  Magian 
priests,  and  the  new  rulers  were  bent  on  restoring  that 
ancient  faith  of  the  land  which  had  been  overthrown  when 
Alexander  burnt  its  sacred  books  and  proscribed  its  sacred 
rites.  Manes  apparently  thought  it  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity for  proclaiming  a  new  religion.  So  he  announced 
himself  as  the  prophet  of  God  to  his  own  people  of 
Babylonia.  "What  Buddha  was  to  India,  Zoroaster  to 
Persia,  Jesus  to  the  lands  of  the  West,  that  am  I  to 
Babylonia." 

In  its  first  form,  his  preaching  was  a  protest  against 
the  forcing  of  Zoroastrianism  on  his  own  people  of  Babylon 

'  The  name  also  means  "  painter."    The  Greeks,  not  unnaturally 
porhaps,  nicknamed  him  the  Maniac. 


MANICH.EISM  I49 

by  the  victorious  Sassanid  House,  and  it  is  probable  that, 
had  he  been  left  alone,  his  religion  would  have  had  nothing 
but  a  mere  local  importance.  But  the  Magians  did  not 
want  to  see  Babylonia  aroused  to  national  enthusiasm 
by  the  preaching  of  a  new  national  faith,  and  Manes 
was  driven  into  exUe.  His  exile,  followed  later  by  his 
martyrdom,  changed  his  system  from  a  merely  local  cult 
to  one  of  world-wide  significance.  He  wandered  as  an 
exile  through  the  countries  north,  north-east,  and  east  of 
the  newly  constituted  Persian  kingdom,  from  which  he 
was  an  outcast,  and  when,  venturing  to  return  to  Persia, 
he  was  cruelly  put  to  death  by  his  enemies,  his  disciples 
seized  upon  his  memory  with  enthusiasm,  and  carried  his 
teachings  far  and  wide  through  Europe  and  Asia.  Mani- 
chseism  w£is  for  many  centuries  a  serious  menace  to  the 
Christian  Church. 

Manichseism  may  most  properly  be  described  as  the 
completion  of  the  Gnostic  systems.  It  seems  to  have 
swept  them  all  together,  and  to  have  joined  them  into 
one  cohesive  whole.  We  hear  no  more  of  Gnosticism 
after  the  rise  of  Manichseism.  It  was  not  a  Christian 
religion,  yet  it  had  its  Christian  side.  It  could  speak  to 
Christians  in  Christian  language,  and  it  made  claim  for 
Manes  that  he  was  the  Paraclete,  the  Comforter  whom 
Christ  had  promised.  We  have  but  to  read  the  Anti- 
Manichsean  treatises  of  St.  Augustine,  or  any  of  the 
notices  of  Manichseism  in  the  Greek  or  Latin  Fathers, 
to  understand  that  Manes  could  talk,  when  he  pleased, 
as  a  Christian.  But  he  faced  many  ways,  and  in  China 
the  Manichsean  clergy  rather  seem  to  have  aimed  at 
identifying  themselves  with  the  Buddhists. 

Manichseism  did  not,  like  Christianity,  "  present  itself 
to  man  as  a  power  to  save  him  by  cleansing  his  heart 
from  sin;  but,  like  Gnosticism,  it   simply  proposed   to 


150         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

gratify  man's  craving  for  knowledge  by  explaining  the 
very  problem  of  his  existence,"  ^  It  had  a  phrase  in 
China  which  well  sums  up  its  principal  teaching — a  word 
pronounced  in  Japanese  as  Dai-un-Komyd,  "the  Light 
on  the  Great  Cloud."  ^  It  recognized  two  elements — the 
Light  and  the  Cloud ;  and  the  Light,  which  is  all  good, 
is  God.  The  personality  of  God  comprises  five  spiritual 
and  five  material  sub-elements,  a  division  clearly  corre- 
sponding to  the  five  Dhyani  Buddlias  and  Bodhisattvas. 
"  But  God  is  not  alone  in  the  light :  His  fulness  compre- 
hends an  air  of  light,  an  earth  of  light,  and  numberless 
glories  and  magnificences.  Upwards  and  sidewise  this 
realm  of  light  is  unbounded ;  but  from  below  it  is  met  by 
the  realm  of  darkness,  the  Cloud."  Thus  "  Light  resting 
on  the  Great  Cloud  "  becomes  the  symbol  of  the  Manichaean 
system.  The  term  is  found  in  China  and  Japan,  often  as 
a  name  for  temples.  I  believe  that  in  every  case  it  can 
be  traced  back  to  a  Manichaean  origin  or  connection. 

The  ethical  system  of  Manichseism  is  more  clearly 
allied  with  Buddhism.  Whether  Manes,  coming  to  India, 
found  the  Dharraagupta  system  at  work  and  incorporated 
it  into  his  own,  or  whether  the  later  Vinayists  borrowed 
from  the  Manichseans,  I  cannot  tell.  It  all  depends  on 
the  date  to  be  assigned  to  books  like  the  Brahmajala 
Sutra.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  "Perfect"  of  the 
Manichaean  system  are  remarkably  like  the  candidates 
for  Buddhaship  who  take  upon  themselves  the  250  Eules 
of  the  Bodhisattva.  In  both  systems  there  is  the  same 
threefold  arrangement  of  sins  according  as  they  concern 
the  hand,  the  mouth,  or  the  heart.  In  both  there  is  the 
same  prohibition  of  marriage,  and  of  every  sort  of  sensual 
pleasure;  Bodhisattvas  and  "  Perfect"  are  alike  forbidden 

'  Kessler,  I.e. 

*  See  my  "  Shinran  and  Hia  Work,"  p.  166. 


MANICH^ISM  151 

to  dig  the  earth,  to  build  houses,  to  engage  in  industry 
or  commerce.  The  Bodhisattva  and  the  Perfect  alike  are 
forbidden  to  partake  of  the  "  five  strong  herbs,"  known  in 
Japan  as  "  Go  Shin."  ^ 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  the  influence  exercised  upon 
the  plastic  Mahayana  by  Manichaeism.  From  the  middle 
of  the  third  century  onwards  the  two  religions  were 
constantly  side  by  side,  and  whatever  person  we  consider 
after  that  date,  we  must  always  take  into  consideration 
the  fact  that  most  probably  he  knew  something  of  Mani- 
chaeism.  Zoroastrianism  also  comes  into  account,  but 
the  Zoroastrians  were  not  a  proselytizing  community  like 
the  Manichaeans,  and  it  is  not  until  the  Tang  period  that 
we  find  them  side  by  side  with  Buddhism. 

Manichseism  did  not  set  itself  to  work  to  preach 
Christ,  but  it  had  its  Christian  aspect,  and  wherever  in 
Central  Asia  we  find,  as  we  often  do,  a  Manichsean  temple 
almost  side  by  side  with  a  Buddhist  monastery,  we  may 
safely  infer  that  there  must  have  been  some  indirect 
knowledge  among  the  Buddhists  of  the  fact  of  Christ. 

•  Of.  "  Shinran  and  His  Work."  The  lower  class  of  Manichsean 
disciples,  the  "  Hearers,"  corresponds,  even  philologioally,  •with  the 
S'ravakas  of  Buddhism.  The  distinction  lies  at  the  basis  of  the 
distinction,  common  in  Japanese  sects,  of  Shintai  and  Zokutai. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

China  in  the  Thied,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Centuries 

It  is  very  difficult  for  the  mind  to  frame  for  itself  a 
distinct  picture  of  China  from  the  middle  of  the  third 
century  a.d.  to  that  of  the  sixth.  The  three  kingdoms 
of  the  Wei,  the  Wu,  and  the  Shu,  of  which  I  have  spoken 
in  a  previous  chapter,  came  to  an  end  in  a.d.  265,  when 
Szuma  I.  established  himself  as  the  first  ruler  of  the  Tsin 
dynasty  on  the  ruins  of  the  Wu  and  the  Shu,  which  he 
annexed  to  the  Wei.  The  Tsin  dynasty  formally  united 
China  under  one  sovereign,  but  the  unity  was  apparent 
rather  than  real.  There  were  many  semi-independent 
principalities,  which  were  extremely  reluctant  to  acknow- 
ledge the  supremacy  of  the  Dragon  Throne,  and  the 
unification  of  the  empire  was  not  carried  out  without 
considerable  difficulty.  Many  of  these  border  princi- 
palities were  Buddhist,  and  it  was  from  them,  more  even 
than  from  India,  that  came  that  overwhelming  flood  of 
Buddhist  books  and  translators  which  has  served  to  make 
the  history  of  Buddhism  in  China  such  a  hopeless  chaos. 
Many  of  these  translators  brought  their  books  from 
Khotan.  Khotan,  about  the  year  a.d.  270,  was  a  semi- 
independent  state,  tributary  to  China,  with  which  it  had 
very  close  trade  relations.  Buddhism  was  practically  the 
only  religion  of  the  country,  the  common  language  was 
an  Indian  dialect,  and  the  script  a  form  of  Sanskrit 
known  as  Kharoshti.     There  were  other  principalities  of 


BUDDHISM   IN   CHINA  153 

the  same  sort.  How  small  was  the  intercourse  with 
India  proper  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that,  during 
the  years  317-439,  out  of  thirty-six  translators  mentioned 
by  Nanjo,  twelve  came  from  the  western  regions  (including 
Khotan),  eight  from  Kubha  (Kabul),  ten  from  various 
parts  of  China  proper,  two  from  Turkestan  and  Bokhara, 
and  only  four  from  India. 

The  Emperor  Wu-ti  (for  this  was  the  name  that 
Szuma  I.  assumed  on  his  accession)  was  an  extremely 
able  ruler.  He  not  only  unified  the  country  and  saved 
it  for  the  time  from  foreign  invasion,  but  he  also  did 
much  for  literature  and  the  general  development  of  the 
empire.  He  encouraged  travel  (we  read  of  a  Chinese 
scholar,  Tsushi,  or  the  "Red  Teacher,"  being  sent  to 
India),  and  in  the  year  284  he  received  at  his  capital 
(more  probably  at  Nanking)  an  embassy  from  a  Eoman 
emperor.  It  was  the  year  of  Diocletian's  accession  :  the 
embassy,  which  may  have  been  some  time  on  its  way, 
must  have  been  sent  by  Probus  (276-284),  or  by  Aurelian, 
the  "Restitutor  Orbis"  (270-276).  Possibly  it  was  not 
an  embassy  at  all,  but  only  a  company  of  traders  whom  the 
vanity  of  the  Chinese  raised  to  the  dignity  of  ambassadors. 

Wu-ti  died  in  290,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Hweiti,  a  simpleton  "who  could  not  distinguish  pulse 
from  wheat,"  and  who  was  entirely  in  the  hands  of  an 
unprincipled  wife.  The  country  was  immediately  a  blaze 
of  rebellion  from  one  end  to  another,  and  the  Tartars  on 
the  frontier  set  up  a  rival  kingdom  in  Shansi,  with  a 
pretender  on  the  throne  who  claimed  descent  from  the  great 
family  of  the  Han.  The  Han  had  not  yet  been  forgotten, 
and  the  great  Wu-ti  had  after  all  only  been  a  successful 
usurper.  The  feeble  Hweiti  was  poisoned  in  306,  his 
successor  was  killed  in  battle  against  the  Tartars  in  311. 
Mingti,  who  succeeded  him,  was  compelled  to  remove  his 


154         THE  CREED   OF   HALF   JAPAN 

capital  from  Loyang  to  Singanfu,  and  in  317  Mingti's 
successor,  Yuanti,  was  obliged  to  make  another  remove, 
and  to  bring  his  capital  to  Nanking.  From  317  to  its 
extinction  in  420,  the  dynasty  was  known  as  the  Eastern 
Tsin.  Thus  China,  remaining  united  in  name,  was  divided 
into  two  portions,  the  line  of  division  being  the  Yangtze 
river.  In  the  south  the  Chinese  ruled,  in  the  north  the 
Tartars.  India  had  its  own  troubles,  and  concerned  itself 
very  little  about  its  missions  to  China. 

It  will  easily  be  understood  that  the  sympathies  of 
the  Buddhists  would  be  more  with  the  Buddhist  princi- 
palities on  the  north  and  west  than  with  the  Confucianist 
Chinese  State  of  Tsin.^  The  "  Bibliothecal  catastrophe," 
or  "  burning  of  the  books,"  instituted  by  Hweiti  in  a.d.  306, 
must  have  been  directed  against  the  Buddhists  and  their 
importations,  and  appears  to  have  been  well  deserved. 
It  also  possibly  affected  the  Taoists.  It  would  almost 
seem  as  though  something  had  for  a  while  driven  Taoists 
and  Buddhists  into  a  common  camp.  About  the  year 
A.D.  240,  Taoist  sectaries  began  to  live  as  Buddhist 
monks  in  bamboo-groves  and  caves,  and  to  cultivate  the 
philosophy  of  the  Void,  as  did  many  of  the  Buddhists  : 
nay,  even  the  Confucianists  were  tempted  to  follow  suit 
by  erecting  images  of  "  the  Five  Eulers  "  in  the  Temples 
of  the  God  of  Heaven.  The  literati  saved  Confucianism 
from  this  stupid  imitation  of  the  Five  Dhyani  Buddhas  ; 
shortly  after  Hweiti's  "  bibliothecal  catastrophe,"  the 
votaries  of  the  Void  were  forcibly  put  down,  on  the 
ground  that  their  doctrines  and  practices  were  subversive 
of  public  order.     But  it  is  evident  that  these  measures 

*  There  ia  a  long  and  painstaking  article  on  the  history  of  the  Tsin 
Dynasty  by  Ch.  Pithon  in  China  Review,  vol.  xii.  p,  401.  He  shows  that 
during  this  period  the  illegitimate  states  were  the  true  props  of 
Buddhism,  just  as  in  Germany  it  was  the  small  states  that  favoured 
the  Reformation. 


BUDDHISM   IN   CHINA  155 

were  limited  to  the  dominions  of  Hweiti  and  his  Tsin 
successors. 

In  the  year  335  a.d.  an  Indian  monk,  of  the  name  of 
Buddhoganga,  persuaded  the  Emperor  She-hu  of  the 
Posterior  Chow  to  allow  Chinese  subjects  to  take  monastic 
vows.  The  Chow  were  Huns,^  in  touch  with  the  main 
body  of  their  tribe,  whose  vanguards,  driven  from  their 
homes  by  the  same  process  of  desiccation  which  had  sent 
the  Chow  against  China,  were  now  on  their  way  to 
Europe.  The  permission  obtained  by  Buddhoganga  enabled 
Buddhism,  at  any  rate  in  the  Chow  dominions,  to  become 
a  native  growth  instead  of  an  exotic.  This  is  the  first 
sign  that  Buddhism  was  becoming  an  object  of  serious 
study  to  the  Chinese  people. 

Buddhism  was  also  much  furthered  by  the  establish- 
ment at  Singanfu  of  the  Empire  of  the  Anterior  Thsin. 
This  dynasty  was  of  Tangut..  or  Thibetan  origin,  and  had 
extensive  trade  relations  both  with  India  and  the  West. 
They  were  very  zealous  Buddhists,  and  did  much  for  the 
spread  of  their  faith.  Cave  temples,  after  the  manner  of 
the  celebrated  holy  places  of  India,  were  established  in 
this  kingdom  about  A.D.  370,  and  it  was  from  the  kingdom 
of  the  Anterior  Thsin  also  that,  in  a.d.  372,  the  first 
Buddhist  missionary  was  sent  to  the  Korean  kingdom  of 
Koma. 

In  366  there  was  translated  into  Chinese  a  portion  of 
the  Avatamsaka,  or  Kegon  Scriptures.  The  reader  will 
remember  that  these  were  the  Scriptures  fabled  to  have 
been  brought   by  Nagarjuna  from  the  Dragon's  Palace 

*  In  375,  the  Huns,  with  the  Alani  and  Ostrogoths,  crossed  the 
Volga  and  attacked  the  West  Goths.  The  latter  applied  for  help  to  the 
Emperor  Valens,  and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  they  brought  into 
prominence  the  bishops,  priests,  nuns,  etc.,  whom  they  had  according 
to  their  ancient  rites.  See  the  quotation  from  Eunapius  at  the  end  of 
the  preceding  chapter. 


156         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  How  suitable  those  weird  books 
must  have  seemed  for  reconciling  the  occupants  of  the 
Dragon-throne  to  the  faith  of  the  great  Sea-dragon !  In 
the  year  381  Hiao-wu-ti,  Emperor  of  the  Anterior  Thsin, 
was  the  first  ruler  of  China  openly  to  profess  the  Buddhist 
faith.^  He  built  large  monasteries  and  did  much  for  the 
spread  of  Buddhism  in  his  extensive  dominions.  He  was 
not  a  great  gain,  perhaps,  to  his  new  religion.  He  was  a 
very  sensual  man,  and  was  smothered  by  one  of  his  con- 
cubines whom  he  had  offended. 

The  Thsin  dominions  extended  far  to  the  "West,  possibly 
as  far  as  Bokhara,  with  which  country  they  had,  at  any 
rate,  many  trade  relations,  and  from  which  they  received 
Buddhist  missionaries.  In  375,  two  Christian  missionaries, 
Palladius,  a  Goth,  and  Musseus,  Bishop  of  Aduli,  were 
sent  from  Galatia  to  India.  Palladius  turned  back, 
Musseus  went  on  from  India  to  Bokhara,  and  there 
established  a  mission.^  It  was  probably  not  without 
some  results. 

Communications  with  India  were  restored.  The 
peninsula  was  now  under  the  sway  of  the  later  Gupta 
sovereigns.  Samudragupta  (326-375)  ruled  over  an 
empire  larger  than  any  that  had  acknowledged  a  purely 
Indian  sovereign  since  the  days  of  As'oka.  He  was 
paramount  in  the  peninsula,  and  his  alliances  extended 
from  Ceylon  to  the  Oxus,  where  he  came  in  touch  with 
the  Thsin.  Neither  he  nor  his  successor  Chandragupta  II. 
(shall  we  call  him  Vikramaditya  ?)  were  Buddhists.  They 
were  both  worshippers  of  Vishnu,  but  both  were  tolerant 
men  and  gave  free  liberty  to  Buddhism  and  Jainism. 
What  wonder  is  it  that,  the  way  being  once  more  open  to 
the  Holy  Land  of  Buddhism,  devout  Chinese  pilgrims 

•  China  Beview,  vol.  xi.  p.  308. 

«  Mentioned  by  Cosmas  Indicopleustes. 


BUDDHISM   IN   CHINA  157 

should  have  flocked  to  visit  the  places  associated  with 
the  birth,  life,  and  death  of  S'akyamuni?  And  what 
wonder  that  the  net  result  of  the  journeys  of  these 
pilgrims  was  to  give  them,  and,  through  them,  their 
countrymen,  a  juster  appreciation  of  the  religion  of  the 
Master?  Much  strange  matter  had  come  into  China  by 
all  manner  of  by-paths  and  highways.  True  it  all 
claimed  to  be  Buddhist,  but  it  was  not  aU.  such  as 
Pataliputra,  or  even  Peshawur,  would  have  recognized. 

The  first  of  these  pilgrims  was  Fah-hian,  who  started 
in  399  and  returned  by  way  of  the  sea  in  414,  four  years 
after  Alaric  had  sacked  Eome,  and  the  year  after  the 
accession  of  Kumaragupta  I,,  whose  reign  was  likewise 
to  be  disturbed  by  the  inroads  of  the  dreaded  Huns. 
Fah-hian  found  Buddhism  flourishing  in  Khotan,  Yark- 
hand,  and  Kashgar,  in  Kashmir,  Punjaub,  and  the  valley 
of  the  Indus.  At  Pataliputra  he  found  two  monasteries, 
one  for  the  followers  of  each  Vehicle,  but  many  of  the 
holy  places  connected  with  the  life  of  S'akyamuni — 
S'ravasti,  Kapilavastu,  Kus'inagara,  and  even  the  Bodh 
Gaya  itself — were  in  decay.  Men  did  not  trouble  them- 
selves about  the  historical  Buddha ;  they  were  too  much 
occupied  with  his  deified  aspects.  Whilst  Fah-hian  was 
still  in  India,  the  Buddhist  monk  Buddhaghosha  reached 
Burma,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  Buddhism  to  be  seen  in 
Java. 

But  before  Fah-hian  returned  to  China,  there  had 
arrived  at  Singanfu  a  man  whose  activity  constitutes  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  Chinese  Buddhism — the  celebrated 
Kumarajiva. 

Kumarajiva  came  of  a  family  that  had  long  been 
domiciled  at  Kharachar,  a  town  and  kingdom  in  Eastern 
Turkestan,  at  the  foot  of  the  Tien  Shan  mountains. 
Entering  the  Fraternity  at  the  age  of  seven,  he  was  sent 


158    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

for  his  education  to  Kubha  (Kabul),  where  he  was  put 
under  the  charge  of  a  famous  Hinayanist  priest,  who 
was  cousin  to  the  king  of  that  country.  At  the  age  of 
twelve,  i.e.  in  352,  he  returned  to  Kharachar,  where  he 
remained  until  383,  spending  the  thirty  years  of  his 
sojourn  there  in  the  prosecution  of  his  theological  studies. 
He  was  admirably  suited  for  the  work  of  an  interpreter. 
An  Indian  by  descent  and  by  education,  he  was  familiar 
with  all  the  twists  and  turns  of  Sanskrit;  in  Kharachar 
he  had  been  forced  to  familiarize  himself  with  Chinese 
and  one  or  more  Turkish  dialects.  There  are  vague  hints 
to  be  found  here  and  there  of  sporadic  Christian  com- 
munities in  that  part  of  Central  Asia. 

In  383  the  town  of  Kharachar  was  attacked  and 
destroyed  by  Chinese  from  Thsin,  and  Kumarajiva,  still 
in  the  prime  of  life,  was  taken  prisoner,  and  carried,  first 
to  Liancheu,  and  thence,  in  401,  to  Singanfu,  where  he 
was  attached  to  the  court  of  Yao  Hing,  second  ruler  of 
the  Posterior  Thsin.  His  fame  as  a  scholar  had  preceded 
him;  he  had  established  his  reputation  as  a  Saint  by  a 
very  successful  resistance  to  a  fleshly  temptation  thrown 
in  his  way  by  his  Chinese  captors,  and  was  received  by 
the  Thsin  court  with  much  honour.  His  opinion  was  at 
once  asked  with  regard  to  the  numerous  translations  of 
Buddhist  Scriptures  with  which  the  country  was  flooded. 
Travellers  to  India  had  already  brought  back  stories  of 
how  the  Buddhism  being  introduced  into  China  differed 
from  that  of  India;  it  was  certain  that  the  translations 
into  Chinese  offended  the  literary  tastes  of  the  educated 
classes.  What  guarantee  was  there  that  they  were  even 
accurate  translations  ? 

Kumarajiva's  verdict  was  that  the  translations  made 
hitherto  were  neither  accurate  nor  elegant,  and  that  he 
had  better  be  set  to  the  task  of  revision.     This  work 


BUDDHISM   IN  CHINA  159 

occupied  him  for  the  rest  of  his  lifetime,  and  was  the  joy 
and  pride  of  his  declining  years.  The  proper  conversion 
of  China  had  been  laid  upon  him  as  a  charge  by  his 
teachers  both  in  Kabul  and  in  Kharachar,  and  he  was 
glad  to  be  able  to  set  himself  to  the  task,  "  I  have 
translated  many  books,"  he  said  to  his  disciples  on  his 
death-bed,  "  and  ye  shall  know  by  a  sign  that  I  have 
done  my  work  well.  When  my  body  is  cremated,  it 
will  all  be  consumed,  but  the  tongue  only  will  remain 
untouched  by  the  fire."  So  his  disciples  knew  that  his 
written  words  were  true  and  correct. 

Among  Kumarajiva's  most  notable  translations  were 
the  Smaller  Sukhavati-vyuha,^  the  Saddharmapundarika, 
and  the  three  S'astras  ^  which  form  the  basal  teaching  of 
the  Sanron  sect.  These  last  he  had  studied  under 
Suryasoma  in  Kharachar,  and  it  was  to  the  expounding 
of  them  that  he  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  energy. 
The  result  of  his  labours  was  the  formation  of  a  sect — 
the  so-called  Sanron — the  first  definite  sect  in  Chinese 
Buddhism,  a  sect  which  was  brought  to  Japan  in  a.d.  625 
by  Ekwan,  where  it  flourished  for  some  time  before  being 
finally  merged  into  other  schools. 

*  See  note  on  the  three  Amida  books  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 

'  The  three  S'astras  are  (i)  "  the  Madhyamika-s'astra,  or  "  Book  of 
the  Mean "  {Churon) ;  (ii)  the  S'ata  sdtra,  or  "  Collection  of  one 
hundred  Essays "  (Hyaku-ron)  and  (iii)  Dvadas^anikaya  s'dstra,  or 
"  Book  of  the  Twelve  Gates  "  {Juni  vton  ron).  They  were  composed  by 
the  Bodhisattvas  Nagarjuna  and  Deva  to  clear  the  confusion  arising 
in  men's  minds  from  the  distinctions  between  entity  and  non-entity. 
They  expound,  from  a  Mahayanistic  standpoint,  the  whole  teachings  of 
Buddha's  long  life,  with  special  emphasis  perhaps  on  the  "  Twelve 
Gates"  that  lead  to  the  Inmost  Shrine  of  Perfect  Enlightenment. 
They  accepted  the  Kegon,  the  Agamas,  the  Saddharmapundarika  as 
three  periods  in  S'akyamuni's  ministerial  career,  and  placed  the 
Saddharmapundarika  last  as  being  the  crown  of  Buddha's  personal 
teachings.  It  is  not  the  object  of  this  book  to  explain  Buddhist 
philosophy.    I  leave  these  q,uestions  for  discussion  in  a  later  volume. 


l6o    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Kumarajiva   died  about   the  year  420,  just  as   the 

Thsin  Dynasty  was  being  replaced  by  the  Sung.     Four 

years    before    him    died    Eon   (Chinese   Hwui-Yin),  the 

Founder  of  the  White  Lotus  Society.    Eon  is  not  reckoned 

among  the  patriarchs  of  the  Amitabha  sects   in   Japan, 

but  he  is  surely  deserving  of  such  honour,  for  he  was 

the  first  to  gather  into  a  distinct  body  a  band  of  monks 

and  laymen  combined  for  the  sole  invocation  of  Amida's 

name.     There  is  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for  the  contention 

of  the  Amidaists  that  their  beliefs  are  of  the  essence  of 

the  Mahayana ;  that  they  are,  in  fact,  the  one  true  form 

of  that  religion.     We  have  seen  the  faith  in  Amida  with 

As'vaghosha  in  the  first   century  A.D.,  with   JSTagarjuna, 

Anshikao,  Lokaraksha,  and  other  Han  missionaries  in  the 

second.     In   the  third   there   was  Sanghavarman  (252), 

whose  translation  of  the  larger  Sukhavati  Vyuha  is  still 

much  used.     In  the  fourth  century  we  have  Do-an  (Thao 

An,  ob.  390),  of  whose  faith  we  know  from  a  story  that  is 

told   of  him.      A  certain  very  conceited   Indian   monk 

entered  into  conversation  with  him,     "  I  am  Shusakushi," 

said  the  Indian  (I  give  the  Japanese  equivalent  for  his 

name)  ;  "  I  am  well  known  within  the  four  seas."     "  Oh, 

are  you  ? "  said  Do-an.     "  My  name  is  Do-an,  and  I  am 

well  known  in  the  Paradise  of  Amida."     The  repartee 

shows  Do-an's  faith  quite  clearly.      Eon  was  a  disciple 

of  Do-an.    Like  his  master,  he  lived  south  of  the  Yangtze, 

in   districts   where   there  was   not  so   much   Buddhism, 

perhaps,  as  in  the  dominions  of  the  Thsin.     He  does  not 

seem   to  have   troubled  himself  very   much   about    the 

Amida  Scriptures  (of  which  only  one  was  accessible  to 

him  in  a  Chinese  dress),  but  to  have  led  a  monastic  life 

constantly    devoted    to    the  worship    of    Amida.      His 

writings  had  a  great  influence  on  the  Amidaist  Patriarch 

Zendo.     It  has  been  said  that  he  was  a  Manichsean  :  the 


BUDDHISM   IN   CHINA  i6i 

White  Lotus  Society  still  exists  in  China,  I  am  told,  and 
its  members  sing  hymns  which  it  is  hard  to  distinguish 
from  Christian  ones.^ 

With  Kumarajiva  commences  the  period  of  Sad- 
dharmapundarika  influence.  That  remarkable  book  (the 
connection  between  which  and  one  of  the  Gnostic  books 
I  have  already  pointed  out)  may  be  spoken  of  as  a  species 
of  Buddhist  Apocalypse. 

The  Master,  on  the  Vulture  Peak,  awakes  from  his 
trance  to  show  his  auditors  that,  though  men  may  think 
there  are  three  forms  of  saving  doctrine,  there  is  really 
only  one,  the  apparent  differences  arising  from  the  fact 
that  the  One  Truth  has  to  be  adapted  and  modified  to  suit 
the  needs  of  those  to  whom  it  is  delivered.  This  is 
illustrated  by  various  parables,  and  the  hearers  have  the 
lesson  impressed  upon  them  that  the  ultimate  goal  of  all 
endeavours  must  be  to  reach  All-knowingness.  And  to 
know  everything  is  the  same  thing  as  to  know  nothing. 

The  Master  is  endowed  with  all  knowledge  and  with 
all  power.  He  knows  the  past,  the  long  record  of  his 
own  existences,  and  the  future,  the  destinies  of  his  hearers, 
both  of  which  he  describes.  His  knowledge  is  so  great 
that  even  the  Buddhas  made  Perfect  in  the  past  are 
anxious  to  hear  his  Wisdom,  and  he  proposes  himself, 
made  one  with  a  great  Buddha  of  previous  times,  for  the 
adoration  of  the  congregation. 

1  I  have  had  no  opportunities  of  verifying  this  statement,  nor  have 
I  been  able  to  find  any  account  of  the  White  Lotus  Society  in  any 
publication  accessible  to  me.  The  statement  may  be  capable  of  verifica- 
tion by  persons  residing  in  China.  I  have  discussed  the  question  in 
the  appendix  to  "  Shinran  and  his  Work." 

A  book  of  dialogues,  mainly  religious,  between  Eon  and  Kumarajiva 
exists  in  the  library  of  the  Shdnshu  Daigakko  at  Sugamo  near  Tokyo. 
The  work  is  said  to  be  unique,  no  other  exemplar  being  known  to  exist. 
Through  the  kindness  of  the  librarian  of  that  institution,  a  copy  is  now 
being  made  for  me. 

M 


i62         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Then  he  sends  forth  his  disciples  to  preach  his  gospel. 
He  promises  them  his  protection,  and  he  encourages  them 
by  showing  the  wonderful  success  of  their  preaching.  It 
will  really  be  He  that  preaches,  and  not  they.  Every  one 
of  their  countless  myriads  of  converts  has  been  somewhere 
at  some  time  his  personal  disciple.  He  gives  them  rules 
for  their  conduct  in  preaching. 

At  the  head  of  the  bands  of  those  that  shall  believe 
are  four  great  Bodhisattvas.  The  later  chapters  make  us 
infer  that  "the  Four"  are  Yakushi,  Kwannon,  Fugen, 
Myo-On.^  Nichiren  claimed  that  he  himself  was  one  of 
the  Four.  Whoever  they  are,  they  are  beings  of  great 
power,  and  they  stand  around  the  Master,  who  is  supreme, 
and  uncircumscribed  in  time  or  space. 

If  Professor  Takakusu  is  right,  we  must  assign  to  this 
period  the  two  brothers  Asangha  and  Vasubandhu,  who 
play  such  an  important  part  in  the  development  of  the 
Mahayana.  Takakusu  places  them  about  A.D.  445,  and 
gives  reason  for  so  doing.  But  Vasubandhu,  on  the  list 
of  the  Mahayana  Patriarchs  given  by  Nanjo,  comes  just 
halfway  between  Nagarjuna  and  Bodhidharma.  We  know 
Bodhidharma's  date,  A.D.  520;  if  we  place  Nagarjuna 
about  A.D.  120,  we  shall  find  that  a  halfway  date  will 
place  Vasubandhu  about  A.D.  300,  which  fits  in  better 
with  what  one  can  judge  of  the  effects  of  his  work.  Vasu- 
bandhu, like  Nagarjuna,  is  claimed  by  many  sects.  He 
belongs  to  the  Kusha,  the  Hosso,  and  the  Jodo,  the  latter, 
especially,  esteeming  him  to  be  one  of  the  most  powerful 
advocates  of  Faith  in  Amitabha  and  Eebirth  in  the  Pure 
Land. 

His  brother,  Asangha,  who  was  a  Mahayanist  before 
him,  is  looked   upon   as   the  founder  of  the  Hosso   or 

'  Their  names  in  Sanskrit  are  Bhaishajyaraja,  Avalokites'vara, 
Samantabhadra,  and  Gadgadasavara. 


BUDDHISM   IN   CHINA  163 

Dharmalaksliaiia  sect.  A  story  is  told  of  him  which 
throws  an  interesting  light  on  the  superstitions  of  his  day. 
He  was  delivering  a  course  of  lectures  in  a  preaching-place 
in  Ayodhya,  his  place  of  residence.  The  lectures  were 
not  his  own.  Every  evening  he  ascended  to  the  Tushita 
Heaven  and  was  coached  for  the  next  day's  lesson  by  the 
Great  Maitreya  himself,  the  Buddha  of  the  Future.  One 
day  a  student  doubted  his  word.  "  You  must  not  do  that," 
said  the  Professor ;  "  what  I  am  giving  you  I  obtained  from 
the  Tushita  Heaven,  from  Maitreya  himself."  With  an 
incredulity  which  would  have  done  honour  to  a  class  of 
Japanese  students  his  auditors  refused  to  believe  him. 
"  Very  well,  then,"  said  Asangha, "  I'll  bring  my  Maitreya 
with  me  next  time!"  And  the  lessons  thus  delivered 
were  the  foundation  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Hosso  Sect ! 

A.  Note  on  the  Chinese  Sects. 

The  following  notes  on  Chinese  sects  will  be  found  useful  for 
reference,  as  some  of  them  will  occur  again  in  the  Japanese  chapters. 
Many  of  them  were  extremely  superstitious  and  corrupt ;  but  few 
professed  much  real  reverence  for  the  teachings  of  S'akyamuni,  and 
in  none,  except  in  the  Jodo,  do  we  find  any  of  the  enthusiasm  that 
uplifts  its  followers.  I  take  my  information  mainly  from  Nanjo 
and  Murakami. 

1.  The  Abhidharma  sect.  This  in  India  was  reckoned  as  one 
of  the  twenty  sects  of  the  Hinayana.  It  was  based  on  the  Com- 
mentary on  the  Abhidharma  treatises  written  by  Katyayaniputra, 
and  was  brought  to  China  about  a.d.  394  by  three  Indian  monks, 
Banghadeva,  Dharmanandin,  and  Sanghabhuti.  It  seems  to  have 
prospered  until  about  a.d.  440.  1  have  foimd  no  traces  of  it  in 
Japan. 

2.  Jojitsu,  based  on  Harivarman's  "  Satyasiddhis'astra  "  (Nanjo 
No.  1274),  and  brought  to  Singanfu  by  Kumarajiva  in  401.     It  was 
opposed  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Sarvastivadins.     It  prospered  in 
China  imtil  the  beginning  of  the  Tang  period,  when  it  was  absorbed 
by  the  Tendai.    It  appeared  in  Japan  only  to  disappear  again. 

3.  Sanron,  based  on  three  S'astras,  two  by  Nagarjuna,  one  by 


/ 


i64         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Deva,  with  commentaries  by  Asangha  and  Vasubandhu,  It  was 
severely  metaphysical,  and  was  in  high  esteem  in  China  during  the 
Sui  dynasty  (589-618).  Under  the  Tang  it  lost  its  prestige.  It  was 
brought  to  Japan  during  the  time  that  the  Sui  influence  was  strong, 
and  its  first  recognized  head  was  Ekwan  (624),  but  was  ousted  from 
favour  by  the  Hosso  and  Kegon. 

4.  Nirvana  (Nehan).  May  be  said  to  have  flourished  from  a.d. 
386  to  A.D.  689,  first  among  the  Lian,  and  afterwards  at  Nanking 
under  the  earlier  Sung.  It  was  one  of  the  first  sects  to  construct 
a  "  Harmony  "of  the  numerous  miscellaneous  SGtras.  It  divided 
Shaka's  life  into  five  periods,  and  considered  the  Siitra  of  the  Great 
Decease  (Nehangyo)  as  representing  the  highest  and  final  teachings 
of  the  Master.  The  Saddharmapundarika  and  the  most  of  the 
Amida  books  had  not  yet  come  to  the  fore  in  China  when  this  sect 
was  started.  It  was  absorbed  under  the  Tang  by  the  Tendai  sect, 
and  reached  Japan  under  that  name. 

5.  Jiron,  based  on  the  Das'abhumika,  with  Vasubandhu's  (not 
Nagarjuna's)  commentary.  Introduced  by  Bodhiruci  a.d.  508,  it 
flourished  under  the  Northern  Wei  (386-534).  It  was  eventually 
absorbed  by  Kegon. 

6.  Jodo.  This  sect  is  an  effort  at  simplification.  It  tries  to 
present  one  object  of  Faith  to  its  followers.  Its  best-known 
teacher  is  Zendo,  a  contemporary  of  the  Nestorian  missionaries  at 
Singanf u.  He  advised  his  followers  (and  in  this  he  was  followed  by 
the  Japanese  Honen)  to  throw  away  the  other  books  of  the  Canon, 
and  to  pin  their  faith  on  the  central  clause  of  Amida's  vow.  His 
writings  contain  some  wonderfully  striking  echoes  of  Scriptural 
phrases,  e.g.  "  the  turning  of  the  hearts  of  the  children  to  the 
Fathers,  and  vice  versa,"  and  the  warning  against  adding  to  or 
taking  from  the  words  of  his  book.  Haas  ("  Amida  Buddha  unsere 
Zuflucht  ")  gives  quotations  from  his  works,  as  well  as  from  those 
of  Donran  and  Doshaku. 

7.  Zen,  another  eflbrt  at  simplification.  Bodhidharma,  who 
arrived  in  China  in  a.d.  527,  advised  his  followers  to  throw  away  all 
books,  and  to  strive  to  attain  to  Enlightenment  by  way  of  Medita- 
tion. Bodhidharma  taught  in  the  Kingdom  of  the  Lian,  and  after- 
wards among  the  Northern  Wei.  This  sect,  like  the  Jodo,  has  had  a 
great  influence  in  Japan.  I  have  a  chapter  on  it  in  my  "  Wheat 
among  the  Tares."  See  also  "  Sermons  by  a  Buddhist  Abbot," 
published  by  the  Open  Court,  Chicago.  It  was  not  taught  much 
at  Singanfu,  and  was  consequently  slow  in  reaching  Japan. 


BUDDHISM    IN   CHINA  165 

8.  Ritsu,  founded  as  a  separate  organization  by  Dosen,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Tang  period.  But  the  Vinaya  discipline  had  been 
taught  long  before  that  time,  and  came  very  early  to  Japan  (see 
chapter  on  Dharmagupta),  "  If  a  man  does  not  practise  the  Dhyana 
and  Samadhi,  i.e.  meditation  and  contemplation,  he  cannot  imder- 
stand  the  truth.  If  he  does  not  keep  all  the  precepts,  he  cannot 
accomplish  his  excellent  practice."  This  would  seem  to  show  that 
the  Ritsu  is  in  some  ways  an  amplification  of  the  Zen.  The  sect 
in  Japan  was  ultimately  merged  in  the  Shingon. 

9.  Ho88d,  i.e.  "  the  sect  that  studies  the  nature  of  things,"  also 
known  as  the  Dharmalakshana,  or  Yoga  sect.  This  is  the  doctrine 
contained  in  the  lectures  given  by  Maitreya  for  Asangha  to  which 
I  have  already  alluded.  It  was  established  in  China  by  Hiouen 
Thsang,  about  a.d.  640.  It  was  brought  to  Japan  in  653  by  Doso, 
who  transmitted  it  to  Gyogi,  and  again,  independently,  in  712  by  the 
notorious  Gembo.  It  was  the  Hosso  that  brought  about  in  Japan 
the  system  known  as  Ryobu  Shinto.  It  cannot  be  accused  of 
having  done  much  for  the  bettering  oT  humanity  in  Japan. 

10.  Tendai,  so  called  from  the  mountain  on  which  its  chief 
founder,  Chisha  Daishi,  had  his  monastery.  It  is  based  on  the 
Saddharmapundarika,iand  is  one  of  the  harmonizing  sects.  Emon 
(a.d.  551)  is  the  first  man  to  grasp  the  full  significance  of  the  Lotus 
Scripture.  He  was  assisted  in  his  work  by  Eshi  and  Chi-ki,  the 
latter  of  whom,  under  the  name  of  Chisha  Daishi,  becomes  the 
actual  founder  of  the  sect.  This  sect  sets  out  to  be  all  embracing. 
Its  supreme  Buddha  is  Vairoc'ana,  who  transmitted  his  teaching  to*\ 
S'akyamuni,  who  transmitted  it  to  Maitreya,  and  thus  through^ 
Asangha's  lecture-hall  to  the  world.  It  divides  the  period  of 
S'akyamuni's  life  into  five.  It  admits  Amida  as  another  name  for 
Vairoc'ana.  It  practises  Yoga,  and  charms  like  the  Hosso  and 
Shingon  do,  but  rejects  the  Shingon  claim  of  a  revelation  to 
Nagarjuna  through  the  sage  of  the  Iron  Tower.  Chisha  Daishi 
died  in  a.d.  597. 

11.  Kegon  (Avatarnsaka).  The  basal  scriptures  were  translated 
in  A.D.  418  by  Buddhabhadra  (Kakugen).  It  had  a  great  vogue  under 
the  Tsin  (557-589)  and  throughout  the  Tang  period.  In  Japan  it 
arrived  later  than  the  Hosso,  but  was  swallowed  up  by  the  Shingon 
(see  below  on  Namudaishi)  and  Tendai. 

12.  Shingon.  We  have  seen  that  this  sect  (as  also  the  Tendai) 
contains  doctrines  very  similar  to  those  of  the  Gnostics  of  Alex- 
andria.     The  Secret  Shingon  was  not,  however,  brought  ito  China 


iX 


1 66    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

till  716,  when  it  was  brought  by  Subhakarasinha  (Zenmiii),  Vajra- 
bodhi,  and  Amoghavajra.  The  Tcndai  claims  to  have  the  true 
Shingon,  which  it  obtained  by  another  route.  There  was  a  Syrian 
Gnosticism  as  well  as  an  Egyptian  one. 


B.  Note  on  the  Thebb  Amida  Books. 

The  three  books  are — 

1.  The  Larger  Sukhavati  Vyuha,  translated  by  Lokaraksha,' 
Anshiliao,  and  numerous  other  translators  during  the  first  three 
centuries.  The  translation  most  in  use  now  is  that  made  by 
Sanghavarman  in  a.d.  252.  "This  Sutra  gives  a  history  of  the 
Tathagata  Amitabha,  from  the  first  spiritual  impulses  which  led 
him  to  the  attainment  of  Buddhahood  in  remote  Kalpas  down  to  the 
present  time  when  he  dwells  in  the  Western  world  called  Sukhavati 
(Goku-raku),  where  he  receives  all  living  beings  from  every  direc- 
tion, helping  them  to  turn  away  from  confusion  and  to  become 
enlightened  "  (Nanjo).  The  Sutra  is  known  in  Japanese  as  the 
Muryojukyo. 

It  should  be  noticed  that,  in  spite  of  what  is  said  in  the  Sutra, 
Amidaists  always  speak  of  Amida  as  an  Eternal  Being  without 
beginning  or  end.    Also  that  very  little  attention  is  paid  to  any 

•  With  regard  to  the  earliest  extant  Chinese  translation  of  this  work, 
the  one  made  by  Lokaraksha  in  a.d.  147,  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that 
Hozo  Biku,  the  earthly  phase  of  Amida,  there  makes  his  vow  before  not 
the  last,  but  the  first  of  his  eighty-one  predecessors,  and  that  the  Name 
of  that  Being  is  Loke^vararaja, "  the  King,  the  Lord  of  the  World."  In 
the  description  of  his  Vow,  the  conditions  of  salvation  are  faith  and 
obedience,  not  faith  only,  and  the  obedience  required  embraces  the  ordi- 
nary morality,  which  is  largely  common  to  all  religions.  In  Sanghavar- 
man's  translation  the  twenty-four  paragraphs  of  the  original  vow  have 
been  expanded  to  forty-eight ;  the  chief  stress  being  laid  by  subsequent 
teachers  on  the  paragraphs  which  accentuate  the  importance  of  Faith 
alone  as  a  means  of  salvation.  But  even  in  the  earliest  version  it  is  laid 
down  most  distinctly  that,  though  there  are  many  Buddhas  (as  there 
are  gods  many  and  lords  many),  yet  they  all  are  summed  up  in  Amitabha, 
the  Buddha  of  Infinite  Purity,  whose  vow  was  made  countless  ages  ago 
in  the  presence  of  the  Buddha  whose  name  is  "  the  King,  the  Lord  of 
the  World." 

If  we  judge  by  the  dates  of  the  translations,  the  other  Amida  books 
clearly  do  not  belong  to  the  first  stages  of  the  Amida  cult. 


BUDDHISM   IN  CHINA  167 

portion  of  Amida's  Vow  except  to  that  portion  (eighteenth  section) 
which  relates  to  Salvation  through  Faith  in  Amida's  Name. 

2.  The  Smaller  Sukhavati  Vyuha  (Japanese  Amida  Xi/o), brought 
to  China  by  Kumarajiva  soon  after  a.d.  400,  and  by  him  translated. 
It  is  not  certain  whether  Eon  had  access  to  this  Stitra  or  not. 
Probably  not.  "It  is  taught  in  this  Sutra  that  if  a  man  keeps  in 
his  memory  the  name  of  Buddha  Amitabha  one  day  or  seven  days, 
the  Buddha  together  with  Bodhisattvas  will  come  and  meet  him 
at  the  moment  of  his  death  in  order  to  let  him  be  bom  in  the  Pure 
Land  Sukhavati ;  and  that  this  matter  has  equally  been  approved 
by  aU  the  other  Buddhas  of  the  Universe."  Eon's  ceaseless  devo- 
tion to  the  Sacred  Name  seems  scarcely  necessary  in  view  of  the 
words  of  the  Sutra,  "  one  day  or  seven  days." 

8.  Amitdyur-dhydna-sutra  (Jap.  Kwammuryojuhyo),  translated 
by  Kalayas'as  in  a.d.  424,  eight  years  after  Eon's  death.  In  this 
Sutra,  Queen  Vaidehi  is  weary  of  this  wicked  world,  and  is  com- 
forted by  S'akyamuni,  who  teaches  her  how  to  be  born  in  the  Pure 
Land,  and  instructs  her  in  the  three  kinds  of  goodness.  These  are  (i) 
worldly  goodness,  e.g.  filial  piety,  loyalty,  respect  for  parents,  etc. ; 
(ii)  morality,  of  that  internal  and  unworldly  kind  which  is  the  first 
foundation  of  the  religious  life ;  and  (iii)  the  goodness  of  practice, 
which  includes  the  practical  application  to  life  of  the  Four  Great 
Truths  and  the  Six  Paramitas  or  Cardinal  Virtues.  A  good  seed 
produces  good  fruit  in  abundance.  If  we  sow  the  seed  of  the  three 
goodnesses  we  shall  reach,  as  a  fruit,  the  ninefold  bliss  of  the  Pure 
Land. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Buddhism  beaches  Japan 

Buddhism  reached  Japan  from  Korea,  and  not  at  first 
from  China. 

Korea,  in  the  age  which  we  have  been  considering, 
was  not  as  large  a  country  as  it  is  now.  The  whole 
of  the  district,  from  the  Yalu  river,  which  forms  the 
present  boundary  of  the  Korean  Empire,  to  the  Tatong 
river,  halfway  between  Wiju  and  Seoul,  belonged  to 
China.  The  rest  of  the  peninsula  was  divided  into  three 
independent  kingdoms  :  Koma,  which  occupied  the  eastern 
slopes,  from  the  Tumen  in  the  north  down  almost  to  the 
extreme  south  of  the  peninsula ;  Kudara,  which  occupied 
the  whole  of  the  western  slopes  from  the  Chinese  frontier 
to  the  extreme  south ;  and  the  small  kingdom  of  Shiragi 
in  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the  peninsula,  on  the  side 
nearest  to  Japan.  The  southernmost  province  of  Shiragi 
was  the  province  of  Mimana,  which  may  be  said  to  have 
been  at  one  time  practically  a  Japanese  colony. 

Buddhism  had  reached  the  kingdom  of  Koma  in 
A.D.  372,  the  missionary  having  been  sent  from  Singanfu 
by  the  ruler  of  the  Former  Thsin  (a.d.  350-394).  A 
ruler  of  the  Eastern  Tsin  (317  to  420)  had  sent  an  Indian 
priest,  Marananda,  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  Buddha  in 
Kudara  in  the  year  384.  Shiragi  had  received  the 
doctrine   from  the   neighbouring  kingdom   of  Koma  in 


BUDDHISM   REACHES  JAPAN  169 

A.D.  424.  The  well-known  propensity  of  the  Buddhist 
priesthood  for  political  intrigue  and  amateur  statecraft 
makes  it  highly  probable  that  the  rival  rulers  of  the 
Thsin  and  the  Tsin,  casting  about  for  any  straw  with 
which  to  support  their  tottering  dynasties,  made  use  of 
the  Buddhist  missionaries  for  political  purposes  to  gain 
allies  for  themselves  in  Koma  and  Kudara,  both  of  which 
kingdoms  touched  the  Chinese  frontiers.  As  to  the  exact 
nature  of  the  Korean  Buddhism  we  have  no  accurate  in- 
formation. The  division  into  sects  in  China  was  still 
new,  and  sectarian  lines  were  not  very  clearly  defined. 
The  doctrine  still  wore  its  Indian  and  predominantly 
Hiuayanistic  character ;  Yasubandhu,  Asangha,  and  other 
great  teachers  of  Mahayana  had  possibly  not  been  born 
when  Buddhism  reached  Korea.^  There  are  indications 
to  show  that  much  attention  was  paid  to  the  Vinaya 
discipline,  and  that  whatever  speculation  there  was  ran 
along  the  lines  laid  down  by  the  Kusha,  Sanron,  and 
Jojitsu  sects  (see  Chapter  XVL). 

Korea  and  Japan  were  by  no  means  strangers  to  one 
another.  As  early  as  B.C.  32  (if  there  is  any  confidence 
to  be  put  in  the  early  records  of  Japan)  the  little  province 
of  Mimana  or  Kara,  oppressed  by  Shiragi,  had  appealed 
to  Japan  for  aid.  The  reigning  emperor,  Sujin  Tenno, 
became  its  protector,  and  the  prestige  of  the  Japanese 
name  was  so  great  that  Japan  was  able  not  only  to 
turn  Mimana  into  a  Japanese  dependency,  but  to  keep 
it  as  such  for  several  centuries.  Korean  influence  upon 
Japan  may  have  begun  even  then,  for  in  the  reign  of  the 
next  emperor,  Suinin,  about  the  dawn  of  the  Christian 
era,  we  find  the  beginnings  of  rice  culture  in  Japan,  and 
an  attempt  to  elevate  and  ennoble  the  native  worship 
of  the  Kami,  which  may  have  been  due  to  the  influence 
*  Takakusu  gives  for  Yasubandhu's  date  a.d.  445. 


170         THE   CREED   OF  HALF  JAPAN 

of  a  foreign  religion.*  In  A.D,  2  Suinin  is  said  to  have 
abolished  the  custom  of  burying  alive  the  wives,  concubines, 
and  retainers  of  deceased  rulers  and  nobles,  and  to  have 
substituted  the  burial  of  clay  figures,  a  practice  which  led 
to  the  Japanese  pottery  industry. 

In  the  year  A.D.  202  the  great  Japanese  heroine,  Jingu 
Kogo,  made  her  famous  expedition  to  Korea,  and  estab- 
lished the  Japanese  ascendency  not  only  over  Shiragi, 
but  likewise  over  the  sister  kingdoms  of  Koma  and 
Kudara,  an  ascendency  which  it  would  probably  have 
been  impossible  to  establish  had  it  not  been  for  the  fact 
that  the  great  dynasty  of  the  Han  was  at  that  period 
tottering  to  its  fall.  In  the  confusions  which  followed 
that  catastrophe  (a.d.  220),  none  of  the  transient  Chinese 
kingdoms  was  powerful  enough  to  be  able  to  pay  much 
attention  to  Korea. 

Jingu  Kogo's  son  and  successor,  Ojin  Tenno,  subse- 
quently deified  by  his  countrymen  as  Hachiman,  the 
God  of  War,  and  at  a  still  later  period  adopted  into  the 
Buddhist  Pantheon  as  an  incarnation  of  one  of  the  great 
Buddhas,  made  great  use  of  his  suzerainty  over  Korea  by 
importing  from  that  country  horses  and  arms,  tailors  and 
sempstresses,  smiths  and  artisans.  His  successor,  Nintoku 
(311-399),  who  was  obliged  to  fit  out  an  expedition  to 
Shiragi  in  order  to  maintain  his  rights,  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  his  father.  He  had  been  instructed  in  the 
doctrines  of  Confucius  and  Mencius  by  the  Chinese  sage 
Ward,  whom  his  father  had  engaged  as  a  tutor  to  the 
Imperial  family,  and  Japanese   historians  always  speak 

•  It  is  not  impossible  that  this  may  have  been  Buddhism,  a.d.  64 
marks  the  official  recognition  of  Buddhism  in  China,  not  its  popular 
acceptance,  and  there  is  an  early  Japanese  tradition  that  at  a  very 
early  period  certain  Ratal  no  hito  brought  an  image  of  Kwannon  to 
Japan,  which  they  set  up  at  Kumano-ura  for  worship  ("  Bukkyo  Seiten," 
App.,  p.  12). 


BUDDHISM   REACHES   JAPAN  171 

of  Nintoku  with  deep  respect  as  a  man  of  singular  virtue 
and  nobility.  Nintoku  introduced  silkworm  breeding 
into  Japan,  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  as  showing  a 
possibly  earlier  existence  of  Buddhism  in  this  country 
that  in  the  silk  districts  the  patron  deity  of  sericulture 
is  the  Buddhist  saint  As'vaghosha.^ 

In  the  year  a.d.  522,  a  Chinese  priest  named  Shiba 
Tatsu,  a  subject  of  the  Liang  (502-557),  made  an  attempt 
to  establish  a  mission  in  Yamato,  which  failed.  The 
Liang  ruled  in  the  south  of  China.  Their  first  emperor, 
Wu-ti,  was  a  powerful  ruler  who  extended  the  dominions 
of  his  house  to  the  sea-coast  on  the  east,  and  did  much 
to  foster  trade  and  commerce.  In  his  reign  the  Chinese 
began  to  be  a  seafaring  people,  and  Chinese  ships  visited 
the  Bay  of  Bengal,  Ceylon,  the  west  coast  of  India,  and 
even  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Persian  Gulf.'  "Wu-ti,  during 
the  earlier  years  of  his  reign  (502-549),  was  a  great  patron 
of  Confucianism;  in  his  later  years  he  alienated  his 
Confucian  subjects  by  his  zeal  for  Buddhism,  which  he 
adopted  with  all  the  ardour  of  a  convert.  In  the  north 
of  China,  his  most  powerful  rival  was  the  kingdom  of 
the  Wei,  ruled  over  by  a  queen,  Hushi,  who,  like  Wu-ti, 
was  a  zealous  Buddhist,  much  to  the  disgust  of  her 
Confucianist  subjects,  who  objected  to  the  worship  of 
S'akyamuni  on  the  ground  that  he  was  only  a  deified 
man,  and  not  a  god  like  Tientei,  the  ruler  of  Heaven. 
In  the  end  they  dethroned  their  queen  and  threw  her  into 
the  Hoangho.^ 

The  Wei  3  influence  (386-584)  would  naturally  be 
great  in  the  Korean  states  which  touched  their  boundaries. 

1  See  "  Bukkyo  Hondo  Shu,"  pp.  14-24. 

*  KaeufEer,  "  Geschichte  Ostasiens,"  vol.  ii.  p.  397. 

*  There  were  three  Wei  dynasties,  all  in  the  north  of  China:  (1) 
Northern  Wei,  386-534;  (2)  Western  Wei,  534-557;  (3)  Eastern  Wei, 
534-550. 


172    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Shiba  Tatsu  passed  through  Korea  on  his  way  to  Japan. 
It  is  highly  probable  that  he  came  on  a  semi-political 
mission  which  failed.  Neither  Korea  nor  Japan  cared 
for  an  alliance  with  the  distant  Liang,  whose  fortunes 
were  apparently  bound  up  with  the  personality  of  one 
man.  Wu-ti's  death  in  549  was  practically  the  end 
of  his  house  and  dynasty. 

But  Shiba  Tatsu's  mission  may  very  possibly  have 
suggested  a  reason  why  the  Korean  kingdoms  should 
seek  to  strengthen  themselves  by  an  alliance  with  Japan. 
Korea  was  practically  a  Buddhist  realm.  Both  "Wei  and 
Liang,  though  ruled  over  by  sovereigns  with  Buddhist 
propensities,  had  powerful  aristocracies  which  were 
strongly  anti-Buddhist.  Had  either  of  these  kingdoms 
gained  the  ascendency  in  the  Peninsula  a  grievous 
persecution  would  have  followed,  ending  perhaps  in  the 
overthrow  of  Korean  dynasties.^  Japan  was  as  yet  neither 
Buddhist  nor  Confucian.  If  she  could  be  won  over  to 
the  faith,  the  immediate  future  at  least  would  be  secured 
from  danger. 

Accordingly,  in  545,  and  again  in  552,''  King  Seimei 
of  Kudara  sent  presents  to  the  Emperor  of  Japan — images 
of  Buddha  and  Sacred  Books — together  with  a  recommend- 
atory letter  in  which  he  pointed  out  the  excellences  of 
the  Buddhist  religion,  as  well  as  its  evident  destiny  to 
travel  constantly  eastward  from  the  land  of  its  origin. 
The  presents  received   but  a  doubtful   welcome.      One 

»  The  straits  to  which  Buddhism  in  China  was  at  this  time  reduced 
may  be  seen  in  the  fact,  noticed  by  Kaeufier,  that  about  555  an  attempt 
was  made  forcibly  to  unite  Buddhism  and  Taoism,  in  a  common  enter- 
prise against  the  powerful  Confucianists — a  foreshadowing  of  Ryobu 
Shinto.  The  attempt  failed  because  the  Taoist  priests  objected  to 
having  their  heads  shaved,  and  the  failure  only  made  things  worse. 

*  This  must  be  considered  as  the  date  of  the  official  introduction  of 
Buddhism. 


BUDDHISM   REACHES  JAPAN  173 

noble  family,  that  of  Soga  no  Iname,  whose  household  had 
possibly  been  already  converted  to  Buddhism,  advised  the 
sovereign  to  accept  the  gift.  Another  section  of  the 
nobility,  headed  by  Mononobe  no  Okoshi  and  Nakatomi 
no  Kanako,  was  furiously  opposed  to  having  any  dealings 
with  a  new  religion  which  could  not  be  brought  into  the 
country  without  offence  to  the  national  gods.  The 
Emperor  temporized.  He  entrusted  the  care  of  the 
images  and  books  to  Soga  no  Iname,  as  though  to  allow 
those  who  would  to  adopt  the  new  religion,^  without  com- 
mitting himself  to  any  definite  line  of  action  in  this 
respect.  Soga  housed  the  idols  in  his  own  villa,  which 
he  converted  into  a  place  of  worship.  Soon  after  this 
a  pestilence  broke  out,  which  was  taken  to  denote  the 
anger  of  the  native  gods.  Soga's  temple  was  destroyed 
by  a  mob,  and  the  great  statue  of  the  Buddha  thrown  into 
the  canal  at  Naniwa.  Then  followed  another  portent — a 
flash  of  lightning  from  a  cloudless  sky,  which  set  fire 
to  the  Imperial  Palace.  This  was  clearly  a  token  of  the 
anger  of  the  Hotoke.^  The  offending  statue  was  fished 
out  of  the  river,  and  reverently  placed  in  a  suitable  abode, 
and  the  Emperor,  as  a  further  act  of  reparation,  caused 
two  images  to  be  carved  in  wood  and  set  up  at  Hoshino. 
This  was  the  first  beginning  of  the  glyptic  arts  in  Japan. 
At  the  same  time  he  sent  a  prudent  message  to  the  King 
of  Kudara,  asking  him  to  send  no  more  Buddhist  bonzes 
or  images,  but  requesting  to  be  supplied  with  physicians, 
apothecaries,  soothsayers,  almanack-makers,  and  artisans, 
and  promising  in  return  to  supply  him  with  munitions  of 


*  The  Emperor  would  scarcely  have  adopted  this  course  had  not 
Iname  been  backed  by  a  considerable  number  of  influential  sympa- 
thizers. 

*  Hotoke,  the  Japanese  term  for  a  Buddha. 


174    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

war.^  This  last  clause  looks  very  much  as  though  an 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  had  been  really  the  aim  of 
the  "King  of  Kudara. 

The  bonzes  and  images,  however,  continued  to  come. 
It  cost  a  civil  war  and  many  a  riot  before  Buddhism 
became  a  permanent  institution.  It  possibly  cost  even 
more,  for  there  was  something  suspicious  about  the  death 
of  the  Emperor  Sujun  (592),  if  not  about  those  of  his 
predecessors,  Bidatsu  (586)  and  Yomei  (587) ;  but  the 
proselytizing  zeal  of  the  Korean  Court  and  their  sup- 
porters in  Japan  (whose  numbers  may  have  increased 
with  the  opposition  raised  by  the  Kami-worshippers) 
knew  no  discouragement.  Architects,  wood-carvers,  and 
almanack-makers  came.  Books  on  geography  and  as- 
tronomy, which  the  Buddhists,  from  their  wide-reaching 
connections,  were  most  fitted  to  teach,  books  on  magic, 
and  almanacks,  of  which  they  had  almost  a  monopoly, 
came,  and  were  eagerly  received  by  the  Japanese,  who 
have  always  had  a  desire  to  know.  But  priests  came  too, 
and  nuns,  and  in  their  hands  were  books,  relics,  and 
sacred  images  of  Maitreya,  of  Amitabha  with  his  two 
companions,^  of  Kwannon  the  Deity  of  Mercy,  so  that 
by  the  death  of  Shdtoku  Taishi  there  were  46  temples 
and  nearly  1400  monks  and  nuns  composing  the  staff  of 
Buddhist  missions.     Many  sacred  books  came  also,  for 

*  In  preparing  this  chapter  I  have  largely  consulted  the  historical 
sections  of  Rein's  "  Japan,"  which  remains  a  standard  work.  For  the 
Buddhist  part  I  am  much  indebted  to  the  painstaking  chronology  pub- 
lished by  my  friend,  Dr.  Hans  Haas,  of  'Heidelberg,  in  Mitteihmgen  der 
Oesellschaft  fiir  Natur  und  Volkerkunde  Ostasiens,  yol.  xi.  3  (Berlin: 
Behrend  &  Co.,  Unter  den  Linden  16). 

*  The  statue  of  Amitabha,  with  Avalokite^vara  and  Mahasthama- 
prapta,  sent  over  by  the  King  of  Kudara,  in  552,  is  said  to  be  now  at 
the  Zenkoji  Temple  at  Nagano.  See  Satow  and  Hawes, "  Handbook  of 
Japan,"  p.  289. 


BUDDHISM   REACHES  JAPAN  175 

we  find  Shotoku  Taishi  lecturing  on  the  "Hokekyo, 
Yuima  Kyo,"  and  "  Shomangyo  "  (the  last  two,  books  of 
the  Vinaya),  and  there  must  have  been  many  others. 

During  the  whole  of  this  period  of  Korean  influence 
the  cause  of  Buddhism  in  Japan  found  a  doughty 
champion  in  the  Crown  Prince.  Shotoku  Taishi  (572-621), 
a  rare  personage,  who  united  in  himself  the  qualities  of  a 
general,  a  statesman,  a  theologian,  and  a  mission-preacher. 
A  more  important  factor  in  the  progress  made  by  the 
religion  was  the  fact  that  Buddhism  in  Japan  soon  at- 
tracted the  enthusiastic  adherence  of  the  women.  In  577 
the  Eling  of  Kudara  sent  over  a  nun,  who  must  have  been 
a  very  good  mission  worker.  In  584  several  Japanese 
women  were  admitted  to  the  Order.  In  588  a  band  of 
Japanese  nuns  went  over  to  Korea  to  study.  In  590  they 
returned,  bringing  with  them  the  disciplinary  rules  of 
the  Vinaya,  and  were  well  received  by  the  people  of 
Naniwa  (Osaka),  who  built  them  a  convent  and  allowed 
them  to  receive  many  postulants.  It  is  probable  that 
these  pious  women,  teaching  the  comparatively  simple 
doctrines  contained  in  the  Vinaya  books,  did  much  more 
to  recommend  the  faith  of  Buddha  to  their  countrymen 
than  did  the  Mantra  priest  with  his  incantations  and 
magic,  or  the  ordinary  bonze  with  his  Kusha,  Sanron,  or 
Jojitsu  speculations. 

The  Vinaya  books  are  divided  into  four  sets.  They 
represent  the  disciplinary  books  of  the  four  Hinayana 
sects,  Sarvastivadins,  Dharmaguptas,  Vibhas'ikas,  and 
Mahis'akas — which  alone  had  any  connection  with  Chinese 
missions.  What  the  precise  differences  between  these 
traditions  were  we  know  not,  and  which  tradition  found  its 
way  through  Korea  to  Japan,  we  cannot  tell.  Possibly 
there  was  not  much  to  choose  between  them ;  but  the 
lesson  to  be  learned  from  the  four  divisions   is  worth 


1/6    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

remembering.  For,  if  the  Discipline  might  be  altered 
a  little,  it  might  also  be  altered  much,  and  if  it  might  be 
altered  mudh,  it  might  also  be  abolished  entirely.  In  later 
years,  Shinran  Shonin's  reforms  practically  swept  away 
the  whole  discipline,  and  we  may  presume  that  it  was  by 
arguments  such  as  these  that  he  justified  his  action.  But 
be  that  as  it  may.  The  pious  women  of  Japan  took 
kindly  to  the  definite  rules  of  Vinaya  Buddhism,  and 
their  adherence  to  the  new  religion  was  of  immense  im- 
portance. There  were  not  wanting  signs  of  the  need 
of  discipline  amongst  religious  communities,  e\  an  in 
those  early  days.^ 

The  fashionable  form  of  religious  metaphysics  was  that 
adopted  by  the  Sanron  sect,  which  commenced  its  Japanese 
existence  in  the  year  624,  three  years  after  the  death  of 
Shotoku.  This  sect  professed  to  accept  the  whole  of  the 
Buddhist  Canon  so  far  as  it  existed  in  China  in  those 
days.'*  The  diseases  of  the  human  mind  were  many  and 
various,  so  they  said,  and  the  prescriptions  for  so  many 
diseases  must  be  many  also.  The  object  of  Buddha's 
teaching  was  to  destroy  error  and  establish  the  truth : 
the  one  implied  the  other,  for  the  destruction  of  error  left 
truth  in  its  place,  and  when  all  errors  were  destroyed 
truth  would  have  the  field  all  to  itself.  But  to  set  to  work 
to  establish  positive  truth  would  of  necessity  involve  the 
establishment  of  error.  [There  can,  therefore,  never  be 
such  a  thing  as  a  positive  and  infallible  Eevelation  of 
Truth.]  Truth  was  of  two  kinds,  absolute  (^)  and 
apparent  (|g.),  and  error,  though  infinite  in  its  possibilities, 
might  all  be  summed  up  under  eight  great  heads.     There 

*  See  H»M,  •'  Chronology  of  Buddhism,  a.d,  623  and  628,"  in 
MitUUungen  der  deutachen  Oesellschaft  fur  Natur  wid  Volkerkunde 
03ta^ts. 

»  See  >,i,uio,  "  Oat.  Trip.,"  Introd.,  p.  xviU. 


BUDDHISM    REACHES   JAPAN  177 

were  errors  connected  with  positive  views  of  Life  and 
Death,  about  Oneness  and  Multiplicity,  about  the  Deter- 
minate and  the  Indeterminate,  about  Going  and  Coming.^ 
Place  the  word  "  No  "  (^)  in  front  of  each  of  these  eight 
notions,  and  the  Truth  would  be  clear.  "  No  Life  and  No 
Death,  No  Oneness  and  No  Multiplicity,  No  Determinate 
and  No  Indeterminate,  No  Going  and  No  Coming."  The 
Universe  and  the  Microcosm,  Man,  are  nothing  but 
negations. 

Speculations  such  as  these,  the  products  of  the  hair- 
splittii\5  Indian  mind,  had  no  charm  for  the  practical 
Japanese  intellect,  and  the  Sanron  sect^  was  never  more 
than  a  shadow  among  the  Buddhist  denominations  in 
Japan.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  simple  faith  of  the 
Japanese  women,  who  took  the  Buddha  of  the  Vinaya 
books  as  their  model,  with  his  plain,  straightforward 
directions  as  to  the  religious  life  of  the  believer,  it  is 
possible  that  Buddhism  might  have  had  to  wait  some 
years  longer  before  gaining  the  ear  of  the  Japanese  people. 
The  lesson  is  one  not  to  be  thrown  away. 

'  "  Murakami,"  p.  446.    The  words  are  Sho-metsu-ichi-i-dan-j6-ko- 

r»i  (^,  m,  ->  M,  m,  IT,  *,  ^). 

*  For  the  meaning  of  Sanron  see  previous  chapter. 


N 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

The  Crown  Prince  Shotoku  Taishi 

The  Emperor  Kimmei,  who  had  received  from  Korea  the 
gifts  of  Buddhist  images  and  sacred  vessels  which  had 
caused  so  much  disturbance  among  his  subjects,  died  in 
A.D.  570.  His  reign  had  not  been  a  very  happy  or 
glorious  one.  In  addition  to  the  domestic  confusions 
arising  from  the  introduction  of  the  new  religion,  there 
had  been  disappointments  in  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
country.  His  ally,  King  Seimei  of  Kudara,  had  been 
defeated  by  the  troops  of  Shiragi  and  taken  prisoner 
(about  557),  a  Japanese  army  in  Korea  had  been  defeated 
by  the  Shiragi  armies  in  562,  and  the  province  of 
Mimana  had  been  entirely  lost  to  Japan.  When  Eammei 
lay  a-dying  in  570,  he  charged  his  successor,  Bidatsu,  not 
to  rest  until  Mimana  had  been  recovered. 

It  was  not  Bidatsu' s  good  fortune  to  recover  the  lost 
province,  and  when  he  died,  in  a.d.  585,  he  laid  on  his 
successor,  Yomei,  the  same  solemn  injunction  that  his 
predecessor  had  laid  upon  him.  But  the  year  following 
his  accession,  the  wife  of  his  brother  Yomei  bore  a  son  who 
was  destined  to  restore  the  fallen  prestige  of  the  country. 
The  child  thus  born  was  at  the  first  called  Umayado, 
"  the  Stable  Prince,"  a  name  which  has  been  explained  by 
the  story  (surely  a  fiction)  that  his  mother,  while  going 
the  rounds  of  her  house  and  grounds,  was  suddenly  seized 
by  labour  pains,  and  gave  birth  to  her  son  in  the  stable. 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE  SHOTOKU  TAISHI    179 

He  had  another  name,  Toyoto-mimi,  which  may  convey 
some  reference  to  his  personal  appearance;  but  at  any 
rate  personal  defects  had  no  effect  on  his  intellectual 
powers,  and  he  was  early  distinguished  both  for  wisdom 
and  for  virtue. 

His  early  youth  was  a  troublous  one.  Bidatsu  con- 
tinued to  receive  presents  (and  appeals  for  help)  from  the 
King  of  Kudara,  hard  pressed  by  Shiragi  and  scarcely 
able  to  hold  his  own.  Without  becoming  a  convert,  the 
Emperor  did  all  in  his  power  to  help  the  new  religion, 
and,  to  give  but  one  instance,  instituted  the  practice  of 
releasing  animals  on  the  eighth,  fourteenth,  fifteenth, 
twenty-third,  twenty-ninth,  and  thirtieth  of  every  month — 
an  institution  not  unlike  the  primitive  wposatha,  or  the 
Christian  and  Jewish  sabbath.  No  civic  disturbances 
marked  his  reign ;  but  once,  when  a  pestilence  broke  out 
shortly  after  the  erection  of  a  pagoda,  built  to  contain 
a  Buddhist  relic  that  had,  it  was  claimed,  been  found  in 
some  rice,  there  must  have  been  many  doubtful  heads 
shaken  over  the  untoward  event.  But  the  Buddhists 
were  not  to  be  moved.  They  met  the  pestilence  with  the 
weapon  of  prayer,  and  when  the  Emperor  himself  miracu- 
lously recovered  from  an  attack  of  the  plague,  they  felt 
that  they  had  triumphed. 

In  586,  Prince  Umayado's  father,  Yomei,  came  to  the 
throne,  and  the  Prince  became,  in  expectation  at  least, 
Heir-Apparent.  Yomei  went  further  than  any  of  his 
predecessors,  for  he  was  the  first  Imperial  convert  to 
Buddhism,  and  the  first  emperor  to  be  baptized  with  the 
Buddhist  ceremony  of  Kwanjo.  His  conversion  possibly 
cost  him  his  life,  for  he  died  in  the  following  year, 
and  his  death  was  the  occasion  for  the  outbreak  of  a 
civil  wer,  which  ended  with  the  Battle  of  Shigisen,  in 
which  the  Prince  Shotoku  and  his  staunch  friend,  Soga 


1 80         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

no  Umako,  were  victorious.  It  would  seem  that  the 
Prince's  Buddhism  was  of  too  pronounced  a  type  for 
him  to  be  a  suitable  occupant  of  the  throne,  which 
went  to  his  uncle  Sujun,  a  younger  brother  of  Bidatsu 
and  Yomei.  Sujun  must  have  been  the  candidate 
favoured  by  the  conservative  Kami  worshippers,  or  at 
least  acceptable  to  them.  He  made  preparations  for  an 
expedition  against  Shiragi,  but  he  was  apparently  unable 
to  preserve  the  loyalty  of  the  advanced  party  of  the 
Buddhists,  for  he  was  murdered  in  592  by  the  ally  of 
the  Prince,  Soga  no  Umako. 

The  Prince  was  again  passed  over — voluntarily,  it 
would  seem.  Sujun's  successor  was  his  elder  half-sister, 
Suiko,  the  widow  of  Bidatsu — for  marriages  between 
half-brothers  and  half-sisters  were  always  allowed  in 
ancient  Japan.  Suiko  reigned  from  593  to  628  ;  for  all 
but  the  last  seven  years,  her  nephew,  now  known  as 
Shotoku  Taishi,  acted  as  her  deputy  and  vice-gerent,  so 
that  what  was  nominally  the  reign  of  the  Empress  Suiko 
was  in  reality  the  reign  of  the  Crown  Prince  Shdtoku. 

Shotoku's  life-work  falls  under  three  heads.  We  must 
judge  him  by  his  foreign  policy,  his  domestic  administra- 
tion, and  his  religious  achievements. 

His  foreign  policy  was  eminently  successful.  His 
uncles  had  dreamed  of  conquering  Shiragi,  and  an 
expedition  was  actually  on  the  point  of  starting  when 
the  Emperor  Sujun  was  murdered.  Shotoku  tried  a  more 
conciliatory  line  of  policy,  and  one  more  in  accordance 
with  the  religious  professions  of  a  Buddhist.  He  sent 
embassies  to  Shiragi,  in  597,  and  again  in  600,  with  the 
result  that  tribute  was  sent  to  Japan,  not  only  from 
Shiragi,  but  from  Mimana  as  well,  showing  thereby  that, 
thanks  to  the  Eegent's  wise  policy,  Shiragi  had  recognized 
the  independence  of  the  state  of  Mimana  protected  by  the 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE  SHOTOKU  TAISHI    i8i 

Japanese.  §hotoku  even  went  further  in  asserting  the 
dignity  of  his  country.  He  dared  to  claim  for  Japan 
an  equal  Imperial  dignity  with  China,  which  Wen-ti  of 
the  Sui  Dynasty  had  just  united  once  more  under  one 
sceptre,  Wen-ti  had  stretched  his  dominions  from  the 
frontiers  of  Koma  in  the  east,  to  those  of  the  Turki 
kingdoms  in  the  west,  and  his  successor,  Yangti,  who 
ruled  from  606  to  618,  had  extended  his  power  still 
further.  Shotoku's  Korean  policy  brought  him  into 
collision  with  Yangti,  who  also  had  designs  on  the 
peninsula,  and  in  609  a  letter  came  from  the  Chinese 
sovereign,  which  the  Japanese  Court  received.  Shotoku 
answered  it,  but  in  a  tone  of  equality,  "  The  Eastern 
Emperor  begs  respectfully  to  speak  to  the  Emperor  of  the 
West."  The  Chinese  Court  did  not  altogether  appreciate 
the  tone  of  the  letter ;  but  in  610  Koma  sent  presents 
to  the  Court  of  Japan,  and  Shiragi  in  616.  Bluff,  or 
rather  the  proper  assertion  of  dignity,  is  at  times  a  very 
paying  line  of  policy  for  a  statesman  to  adopt. 

Shotoku's  home  administration  is  chiefly  connected 
with  an  attempt  made  in  603  to  arrange  the  official  ranks 
of  persons  in  Government  service  according  to  the  model  of 
the  Chinese  Court,^  and  the  Constitution  of  the  Seventeen 
Articles  issued  in  the  following  year.  The  newly  graded 
official  ranks  were  named  after  the  Confucianist  virtues, 
as  though  to  remind  the  holders  of  the  paramount  im- 
portance of  virtue  above  all  things  else ;  in  the  Con- 
stitution we  have  traces  of  Confucianist  influence,  together 
with  an  outspoken  advocacy  of  Buddhism,  as  being,  in  the 
writer's  mind  at  least,  the  sole  religion  for  a  wise  man  to 
follow. 

•  The  grades  are  as  follows:  Daitoku,  Shotoku,  Daijin,  Shojirij 
Tairei,  Shorei,  Daishin,  Shoshm,  Daigi,  Shogi,  Daichi,  Shdchi.  Toku, 
Jin,  B&i,  Shin,  Qi,  Chi  (virtue,  benevolence,  propriety,  sincerity, 
justice,  wisdom)  are  the  basal  Confucianist  virtues. 


i82         THE   CREED    OF    HALF   JAPAN 

The  seventeen  Articles  of  the  Constitution  throw  a 
very  bright  light  on  the  conditions  of  the  country  which 
Shotoku  sought  to  amend.  It  was  a  period  of  disunion 
and  discord,  dating  probably  from  days  prior  to  the 
introduction  of  Buddhism,  but  also  probably  accentuated 
by  the  same.  The  results  of  this  discord  were  visible  in 
the  loss  of  Mimana  and  of  almost  all  prestige  in  Korea, 
and  in  the  backwardness  of  Japanese  culture.  Shotoku 
appeals  to  the  country  on  behalf  of  concord,  in  his  first 
Article :  in  the  second,  he  points  his  countrymen  to  what 
he  feels  to  be  the  best  and  truest  way  of  arriving  at  the 
same — the  whole-hearted  acceptance  of  Buddhism.  We 
cannot  but  admire  the  boldness  of  his  words,  in  view  of 
the  still  constant  opposition  to  foreign  doctrines.  Neither 
can  we  forget  that,  just  about  this  time,  an  Emperor  of 
China  was  coming  to  the  conclusion  that,  whenever  a 
ruler  showed  himself  too  partial  towards  the  doctrines  of 
Buddhism,  he  always  brought  ruin  on  his  dynasty.^  In 
Shotoku's  eyes,  Buddhism  wore  a  very  different  aspect. 

In  Article  III.,  Shotoku  dwells  on  the  dignity  of  the 
Emperor,  who  stands  above  his  people,  covering  them  with 
his  protection,  just  as  Heaven  stands  over  and  protects 
the  earth  beneath  it.  The  Article  was  probably  directed 
against  the  nobles,  whose  respect  for  the  sovereign  in 
those  days  of  civil  strife  and  confusion  was  not  always 
a*s  great  as  it  should  have  been.  The  Article  must,  more- 
over, be  read  in  reference  to  the  murder  of  the  Emperor 
Sujun  by  Shotoku's  ally,  Soga  no  Umako.  Had  Shotoku 
felt  himself  in  any  way  to  be  blamed  for  his  continued 
friendship  for  the  man  who  had  committed  that  deed,  he 
would  scarcely  have  ventured  to  speak  as  he  did  of  the 
respect  due  to  the  Emperor.^    It  would  seem  as  though 

•  Taitsung  of  the  Tang  Dynasty,  a.d.  627. 
-  Aston's  "  Nihongi,"  vol.  i.  p.  129,  etc. 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE  SHOTOKU  TAISHI    183 

Sujun  had  been  a  usurper,  possibly  with  the  aid  of  the 
opponents  of  Buddhism ;  that  Soga  no  Umako,  as  the 
supporter  of  Shotoku's  claims,  had  opened  the  way  for 
the  Prince  to  succeed,  and  that  the  Prince,  declining 
to  come  to  the  throne  in  this  way,  had  secured  the 
nomination  of  his  aunt.  He  was  conscious  of  his  own 
rights  as  the  son  of  Yomei,  yet  he  stood  back  in  order 
that  he  might  be  in  a  position  to  speak  with  greater 
emphasis  of  the  duty  that  the  subject  owes  to  his 
sovereign.  It  is  evident  from  the  Article  that  Shotoku 
did  not  share  the  subsequently  formulated  and  now 
officially  accepted  doctrine  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
Imperial  House. 

The  following  Articles  deal  with  the  duties  of  ministers 
and  functionaries.  If  subjects  have  certain  duties  towards 
their  rulers,  rulers  and  magistrates  have  certain  responsi- 
bilities towards  those  beneath  them,  which  must  be 
discharged  with  decorum  and  the  observance  of  due 
proportion.  Such  observance  cannot  fail  to  have  a  good 
influence  on  the  country  at  large  (Art.  iv.).  But  if, 
on  the  other  hand  (Art.  v.),  the  magistracy  allows  itself 
to  be  bribed  with  gifts,  if  the  judge  is  remiss  in  the 
administration  of  justice,  if  he  gives  his  decisions  to  suit 
his  own  interests,  or  without  clearness,  the  poor  will  no 
longer  know  whom  to  look  to  for  support,  and  the  country 
will  lose  its  prosperity.  Lying  and  flattery  (Art.  vi.) 
have  been  evils  in  every  country  and  age ;  Shotoku's  age 
was  certainly  not  free  from  them.  It  was  exposed  to 
another  peril,  that  of  hereditary  office  (Arts.  vii.  and 
viii.).  Men  were  promoted  to  dignities  and  high  charges, 
not  for  any  special  capacities  that  they  had  shown  in 
inferior  positions,  but  because  these  oBfices  were  con- 
sidered to  be  the  perquisites  of  certain  families.  And  the 
hereditary  office  had  but  too  often  been  treated  as  a 


i84         THE   CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

sinecure.    The  result  of  all  this  (Art.  ix.)  was  the  loss  of 
public  confidence. 

In  Arts,  x.-xiv.,  the  evils  arising  from  the  want  of  a 
feeling  of  responsibility,  on  the  part  of  these  hereditary 
holders  of  offices  treated  almost  as  sinecures,  are  laid  out 
more  in  detail.  The  magistrate  would  allow  himself  to 
lose  his  temper  on  the  bench,  and  bully  the  accused  or 
the  witnesses.  He  should  remember  that  it  was  always 
possible  that  he  himself  might  not  always  be  the  perfec- 
tion of  wisdom  ;  that  it  was  also  possible  that  the  prisoner 
in  the  dock,  and  the  witness  under  cross-examination, 
were  reasonable  men  (Art.  x.).  He  should  listen,  therefore, 
to  the  opinions  of  others,  should  give  his  decisions  with 
sobriety  and  fear,  and  be  very  careful  to  administer  praise 
and  blame  in  strict  accordance  with  the  results  of  a  severe 
and  impartial  investigation  (Art.  xi.).  He  should  be 
careful  to  levy  no  arbitrary  taxes,  on  his  own  authority, 
in  the  district  over  which  he  was  called  to  rule,  so  as  not 
to  provoke  the  people  to  resistance  (Art.  vii.).  He  should 
know  the  working  of  every  detail  of  his  own  office,  and 
the  regularity  or  slackness  of  the  members  of  his  staff. 
If  something  had  gone  wrong,  because  a  subordinate  was 
absent  from  his  post,  the  chief  of  the  bureau  must  not 
excuse  himself  by  saying  that  he  did  not  know  the  man 
was  absent.  It  was  his  duty  to  know  it,  and  to  provide 
for  the  public  service  being  properly  attended  to  (Art. 
xiii.).  Mutual  jealousies  have  often  brought  ruin  upon 
a  State.  Saints  and  sages  appear  but  rarely  in  the  world ; 
jealousy  and  envy  are  the  main  obstacles  which  hinder 
their  more  frequent  development.  And  what  would 
become  of  the  government  of  a  country  without  sages 
or  saints  ?  (Art.  xv.).  A  sage  or  a  saint,  he  continues, 
showing  the  identity  of  both  Confucianist  and  Buddhist 
teachings  in  this  respect,  is  one  who  sacrifices  his  own 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE  SHOTOKU  TAISHI    185 

will,  and  devotes  himself  to  the  service  of  others.  This 
principle  produces  self-sacrifice  in  the  governors,  obedience 
in  the  people,  and  makes  for  peace  and  harmony  (Art. 
XV.).  It  shows  itself  in  the  way  in  which  orders  are 
given. 

For  instance,  Government  has  the  right  to  demand  a 
certain  amount  of  forced  labour  from  the  people.  But 
times  and  seasons  must  be  observed.  If  the  governor 
makes  the  people  work  for  the  State  during  the  summer 
months,  the  farmer  will  suffer,  and  distress  will  ensue. 
If  the  governor  exercises  patience  and  self-control,  and 
waits  till  winter  comes  there  will  be  no  friction  (Art.  xvi.), 
"  Never  act,"  he  concludes,  "  on  your  own  private  initia- 
tive or  authority ;  and  never  take  any  step  of  importance 
without  consultation.  In  a  doubtful  case,  consult  the 
more  "  (Art.  xvii.).^ 

Such  were  the  principal  defects  which  Shotoku  found 
in  the  administration  of  the  country  after  he  had  had  his 
hand  at  the  helm  of  State  for  several  years.  For  these 
evils  he  had  two  great  remedies.  The  one  was  the  reform 
of  the  judiciary  and  magistracy  according  to  Chinese^ 

*■  This  passage  may  possibly  have  inspired  one  of  the  recent  poems 
of  her  Majesty  the  Empress — 

Ayamatan 
Koto  wo  omoeba, 

Karisome  no 
Koto  ni  mo  mono  wa 
Tsutsushimaretsutsu. 

"  Should  we  fear 
To  slip  or  err,  we  take  good  care  ourselves, 
And  e'en  the  smallest  deed,  do  heedfully." 

•  P.  Balet  ('•  Melanges  Japonais,"  vol.  iii,  p.  287)  points  out  that  when 
Sh5toku,  in  607,  sent  students  to  China  (Sui  Dynasty,  590-619)  to 
study  actual  conditions,  he  chose  only  the  descendants  of  Chinese 
families  naturalized  in  Japan.  All  bear  the  designation  Ayabito,  which 
denotes  a  Chinaman  naturalized  in  Japan. 


i86    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

models ;  the  other  was  the  inculcation  and  propagation  of 
Buddhism,  as  the  best  religion  he  knew,  and  as  eminently 
fitted,  in  his  judgment,  to  supply  to  his  countrymen  that 
firm  ethical  basis  which  the  Shintoism  of  the  time  lacked, 
plus  the  religious  enthusiasm  which  comes  from  a  definite 
theological  system.  We  will  now  pass  on  to  the  con- 
sideration of  Shotoku's  religion. 

Shotoku  has  been  much  blamed  by  modern  Shintoist 
writers  as  wanting  in  patriotism,  because  he  laid  no  stress 
on  the  national  gods  of  the  land,  and  because,  in  the 
second  article  of  his  Constitution,  he  emphasized  Buddhism 
as  the  sole  religion  worthy  to  be  adopted  by  his  subjects. 
It  is  true  that  the  saying  once  currently  attributed  to 
him,  that  the  religion  of  Japan  was  like  a  tripod  standing 
on  three  legs,  Buddhism,  Confucianism,  and  the  Shinto, 
cannot  be  sustained,  because,  as  Dazai  truly  observes, 
Shinto  did  not  exist,  i.e.  was  not  elevated  into  a  system, 
until  long  after  the  Crown  Prince's  time.^  But  it  is  also 
true  that  there  is  no  sign  of  his  having  forced  his  beliefs 
on  the  consciences  of  his  people  against  their  wills.  He 
confined  himself  to  preaching  the  faith  which  he  had 
adopted  with  all  his  heart  and  soul;  for  other  forms  of 
faith  and  religion,  he  had  no  thoughts  left. 

He  had  no  reason  to  love  the  Kami-worshippers. 
The  adherents  of  that  system  were  not  only  conservatives 
in  religion,  but  probably  obstructionists  in  the  path  of 
popular  progress,  and  were  opposed  not  only  to  Buddhism, 
but  to  Confucianism  as  well.  His  whole  early  life  had 
been  embittered  by  the  antagonism  of  a  Conservative 
party,  which  was  not  even  loyal  to  the  throne;  it  can 
hardly  cause  wonder  if,  on  his  accession  to  power,  he  did 

•  See  Mr.  Consul-General  J.  0.  Hall,  "  A  Japanese  PWlosopher  on 
Shinto,"  in  Transactions  of  the  Third  International  Congress  for  the 
Study  of  the  History  of  Beligions  (Oxford,  1908). 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE  SHOTOKU  TAISHI    187 

not  go  out  of  his  way  to  recommend  a  system  which  had 
always  stood  in  the  way  of  the  reforms  and  the  progress 
he  was  so  anxious  to  inaugurate.  Besides,  the  Shinto  of 
his  day  needed  no  commendation  from  him.  It  was 
already  well  established  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  It 
had  not  yet  been  systematized — that  came  later,  as  a  result 
of  the  opposition  to  Buddhism — neither  had  the  amalga- 
mation between  the  two  religions  yet  been  carried  out. 
But  we  can  well  imagine  that  Shdtoku  saw  no  reason 
why  it  should  not  be  quietly  absorbed  by  the  all-embracing 
Buddhism  which  he  preached.  There  was  no  need  for 
mentioning  the  subject.  He  would  preach  Buddha,  and 
trust  to  coming  events  for  the  result. 

Shotoku,  like  As' oka,  whom  he  very  much  resembled 
in  character,  was  a  preacher.  The  fact  facilitates  the  task 
of  the  historian,  for  we  fortunately  know  the  texts  from 
which  he  preached  to  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  his 
aunt's  court.  In  the  year  606,  two  years  after  the 
promulgation  of  his  Constitution,  he  lectured  in  his  palace 
at  Naniwa  on  three  books,  the  "  Saddharmapundarika 
Sutra,"  the  "  Vimala-Kirtti-nirdesa-sutra,"  and  the 
"  S'rimaladeni-simhananda-sutra."  ^  In  the  same  year 
he  decreed  the  observance  of  S'akyamuni's  birthday.  We 
may  sum  up  the  three  Sutras  by  saying  that  the  first 
furnished  Shotoku  with  a  manual  of  theology ;  the  second, 
with  texts  on  the  duties  of  the  devout  layman ;  the  third, 
with  homilies  on  the  duties  of  faithful  women.  On  these 
three  Sutras  he  preached  and  also  composed  commentaries. 

The  Hokekyd  is  an  extremely  well-known  Sutra.  It 
is  one  of  a  comparatively  late  date,  for,  when  the  five 
subdivisions  of  the  Mahayana  Sutras  were  made,  it  was 
not  in  existence,  and  Dr.  Nanjo  gives  it  to  us  under  a 

1  In    Japanese,    "  Hokekyo," "    Yuima-ky5,"    "  Shomangyo."      In 
Nanjo's  Catalogue,  Nos.  134, 144,  and  23  (48). 


i88    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

separate  heading  as  one  of  the  Sutras  of  the  Mahay  ana 
not  included  under  any  of  the  previous  five  classes.  It 
is  post-Christian  in  its  structure,  and  betrays  acquaintance 
with  the  New  Testament  scriptures,  an  acquaintance 
which  it  may  have  derived  through  Manichaeism.^  It 
represents  S'akyamuni,  but  not  as  he  was  in  the  guise 
of  his  historical  life,  preaching  a  simple  life  to  simple 
persons,  and  bringing  to  the  searcher  after  Truth  in  India 
the  gospel  of  a  relief  from  the  fetters  of  caste  and  the 
possibility  of  attaining  to  a  Nirvana  of  rest  and  freedom, 
without  penances  or  austerities,  by  a  simple  placing  of 
trust  in  Himself  and  a  following  along  the  noble  Eightfold 
Path  of  Eight  Actions,  Right  Views,  Right  Aspirations. 
It  represents  Him  as  the  Eternal  Buddha,  without  begin- 
ning and  without  end,  manifested  in  India  as  Gotama, 
but  manifested  often  both  before  and  since.  It  represents 
him  spiritually  present  with  his  people,  giving  them  His 
spiritual  Body  for  their  worship,  with  four  great  Ministers 
before  Him,  and  surrounded  with  a  glorious  company 
which  no  man  can  number,  of  perfected  saints  who  rise 
to  greet  Him  out  of  the  clefts  of  the  earth.  And,  if  we 
may  judge  from  the  fact  that  all  the  images  which  came 
to  Japan  in  those  early  days  were  images  of  Amida, 
with  or  without  his  great  son  and  representative 
Kwannon  (Avalokites'vara)  and  his  other  minister  Seishi 
(Mah'asthamaprapta),  we  shall  infer  that  Shotoku  identi- 
fied the  glorified  S'akyamuni  of  the  Hokekyo,  the  counter- 
part, to  use  no  stronger  expression,  of  our  Christ,  with  the 
Great  Buddha,  Amitabha,  as  do  the  Shinshuists  to-day.^ 
The  other  two  Sutras  are  not  so  well  known,  neither 

*  See  my  "  Wheat  among  the  Tares." 

*  The  oldest  Image  in  Japan,  the  one  sent  by  the  King  of  Kudara 
in  552,  is  said  to  be  at  the  Zenkoji,  in  Nagano.  It  represents  Amida, 
Kwannon,  and  Seishi.  See  my  "  Wheat  among  the  Tares,"  passim,  and 
Dr.  Tada  Kana«'s  "  Shoshinge  K&wa  "  (in  Japanese). 


THE  CROWN  PRINCE  SHOTOKU  TAISHI    189 

has  the  Commentary  by  Shotoku  ever  been  made  accessible 
to  Western  scholars.  All  I  know  of  the  "  Shomangyo," 
the  Sutra  treating  of  the  duties  of  women,  is  that  it  is 
classed  by  Nanjo  among  the  Avatamsaka  Scriptures 
which  formed  the  Canon  used  by  the  Yogacharya  sect,  the 
Japanese  Hosso.  It  is  therefore  a  writing  of  a  compara- 
tively late  date.^  Of  the  "  Yuimakyo,"  which  deals  with 
the  duties  of  the  Buddhist  layman,  there  is  fortunately 
an  English  translation,  published  in  1897  in  the  columns 
of  a  now  defunct  periodical,  the  Hansei  Zasshi,  It  is  too 
lengthy  to  be  reproduced  here,  but  it  is  very  practical, 
and  contains  a  very  full  summary  of  the  religious  life  as 
viewed  by  the  Mahayanist.  A  man  who  should  fashion 
his  life  according  to  its  precepts  would  come  very  near  to 
being  a  holy  man.     He  might,  however,  be  a  prig. 

Shotoku  was  also  a  man  who  believed  in  the  power 
and  efficacy  of  prayer.  When  his  friend  the  Omi,  Soga 
no  Umako,  lay  ill,  he  instituted  formal  intercessions  for 
his  recovery,  and  a  thousand  persons  took  temporary 
vows  to  lead  a  monastic  life  until  the  sick  man  should 
recover.  Shotoku's  limitations  were  due  to  his  exalted 
position.  Had  he  been  born  a  prince  of  a  long-  dethroned 
house,  like  Christ,  with  no  thoughts  before  him  of  temporal 
power,  or  had  he  been  able  to  make  the  renunciation  of 
earthly  position,  which  is  such  a  touching  and  prominent 
feature  in  the  life  of  S'akyamuni,  he  would  have  accom- 
plished even  more  than  he  did.  It  was  his  misfortune 
that,  like  As'oka,  he  had  to  combine  the  offices  of  priest 
and  prince  in  his  own  person.  When  a  ruling  prince 
takes  to   preaching,  there  is   always  a  danger  lest   the 

'  It  would  be  almost  impossible  for  any  single-handed  historian  of 
the  Mahayana  to  translate  aU  the  Chinese  texts  he  is  obliged  to 
mention.  It  requires  time,  money,  and  many  sets  of  brains  and  hands 
to  lay  bare  aU  that  is  contained  in  the  vast  Mahayana  Canon. 


190    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

doctrine,  becoming  superficially  popular,  should  become 
perverted.  It  was  so  in  As'oka's  case;  it  was  so  in 
Shotoku's.  Three  years  after  his  death  stringent  measures 
had  to  be  taken  to  enforce  discipline  amongst  an  immoral 
clergy,  and  the  Nara  age,  to  which  we  are  now  coming, 
was  a  very  corrupt  and  superstitious  one.  There  is  no 
healthy  religion  of  any  kind  that  does  not  involve  the 
bearing  of  a  cross  of  some  sort  or  other. 

It  is  a  true  instinct  that  has  led  the  Shinshu  or  *'  True 
Sect"  believers  in  Japan  to  place  Shotoku  on  a  pedestal 
of  honour  as  the  firstfruits  of  Amidaism  in  Japan.  For 
undoubtedly  he  was  inspired  by  the  idea  of  that  great 
Being,  the  counterpart  of  our  Western  Christ,  who  humbled 
himself  that  he  might  save  man,  who  was  exalted  when 
he  had  accomj^lished  that  salvation,  and  from  whom  so 
much  of  comfort  and  strength  has  flowed  out  to  suffering 
humanity  in  Japan  and  the  Far  East.^  A  further  study 
of  Comparative  Chronology,  one  of  the  most  important 
branches  of  the  study  of  religion,  will  show  us  that 
Shotoku  was  the  contemporary  of  that  religious  move- 
ment which  took  place  in  the  capital  of  the  Chinese 
Tangs,  when  the  victories  of  Mahometanism  brought 
Christian  and  Zoroastrian  exiles  to  the  court  of  Singanfu, 
to  rub  shoulders  together  in  the  sympathy  that  came  to 
them  from  the  participation  in  a  common  misfortune. 

^  And  yet  Shdtoku  preceded  Zendd  and  the  great  development  of 
Amidaism  which  originated  with  him.    See  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XIX         S^ 

Buddhism  during  the  Naba  Pkeiod  ^  fbom  a.d.  621-782 

The  activities  of  Kumarajiva  seem  to  have  led  to  the 
dismemberment  of  the  Mahayana,  which,  in  spite  of 
the  variety  of  doctrines  it  contained  within  its  ample 
folds,  had  hitherto  contrived  to  preserve  a  united  front. 
The  sectarianism  of  Chinese  Buddhism  was  aided  by 
the  distracted  state  of  the  Chinese  Empire,  broken  up 
into  many  kingdoms,  each  striving  for  the  mastery ;  and 
we  have  seen  some  of  these  rival  states  casting  about 
for  supporters,  and  trying  to  enlist  sympathy  for  them- 
selves in  the  Korean  peninsula  and  in  Japan.  We  have 
seen  Korea  similarly  divided  into  warring  kingdoms,  some 
of  which — Kudara  and  Mimana — looked  to  Japan  for 
aid,  while  Shiragi,  relying  on  Chinese  support  from  the 
kingdom  of  the  Wei,  boldly  resisted  Japanese  interven- 
tion ;  and  Koma,  too  weak  for  independent  action,  sat  on 
a  fence  and  vacillated  between  Japan  and  Shiragi,  accord- 
ing to  the  interests  of  the  hour.  And,  lastly,  we  have 
seen  Japan  under  Shotoku  Taishi  gradually  inclining 
more  and  more  towards  a  following  of  China,  and  taking 
the  Empire  of  the  Sui  (590-618)  as  its  model,  both  in 
religion  and  in  secular  politics. 

*  The  town  of  Nara  was  actually  the  capital  of  Japan  only  from 
710  to  784,  there  having  been  no  definite  capital  before  that  date.  But 
Nara  became  so  distinctly  the  dominating  centre  that  its  name  may 
well  be  given  to  the  whole  period. 


192         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Shdtoku  died  in  621.  Three  years  before  his  death, 
the  dynasty  of  the  Sui,  in  China,  with  its  costly  ambition 
and  magnificence,  had  been  obliged  to  make  way  for  the 
family  of  the  Tangs,  who  ruled  till  907,  and  who  inaugu- 
rated a  period  of  greatness  and  prosperity  such  as  China 
had  not  known  since  the  downfall  of  the  great  House  of 
Han  in  220  a.d. 

The  Tangs  began  badly  for  Buddhism.  Kaotsu  (618- 
627),  their  first  ruler,  broke  up  Buddhist  monasteries 
right  and  left,  and  sent  100,000  bonzes  back  to  lay  life 
where  they  would  be  obliged  to  work,  and  neither  his 
successor  Taitsung  nor  his  wife  Ch'angsun^  had  any 
sympathies  for  the  faith.  But  the  Buddhists  knew 
how  to  win  their  way  back  to  favour  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years,  and  the  Tangs  had  not  been  fifty  years  on  the 
throne  in  China  ere  Buddhism  was  once  more  in  full 
force,  and  on  a  far  more  splendid  basis  than  before. 
Under  the  Tangs  it  became  essentially  a  Chinese  faith ; 
it  had,  as  it  were,  discarded  its  i  Indian  waistcloth  and 
adopted  the  flowing  robes  of  the  Celestial. 

In  the  selfsame  year  that  Shotoku  Taishi  died,  there 
was  erected  at  Singanfu,  at  that  time  the  capital,  the  first 
Zoroastrian  temple  ever  built  in  China.  The  Tangs  had 
owed  very  much  to  the  support  of  the  Turkish  tribes  on 
the  western  frontier  of  China  in  the  days  when  they  were 
busy  winning  their  crown,  and  it  was  probably  due  to  this 

1  When  Ch'angsun  was  dying  she  addressed  her  son  in  words 
somewhat  to  this  effect :  "  Our  life  is  in  the  hands  of  Heaven,  and 
when  it  decides  that  we  shall  die,  there  is  no  mortal  power  that  can 
prolong  it.  As  for  the  Taoist  and  Buddhist  faiths,  they  are  heresies, 
and  have  been  the  cause  of  injury  both  to  the  people  and  to  the  State. 
Your  father  had  a  great  aversion  to  them,  and  you  must  not  displease 
him  by  calling  on  them  on  my  behalf."  She  requested  to  be  buried 
with  great  simplicity,  exhorting  her  son  to  associate  with  good  men 
and  to  avoid  extravagance,  especially  in  hunting  and  building. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    193 

connection  between  the  Empire  and  the  tribes  on  its  borders 
that  the  Magians  took  the  opportunity  of  preaching  in 
China  itself.  Singanfu,  which  lies  in  the  province  of 
Shensi,  is  not  far  removed  from  the  then  abodes  of  the 
Turkish  tribes ;  indeed,  it  was  once  suggested  to  Kaotsu, 
by  some  pusillanimous  advisers,  that  he  should  remove 
his  capital  to  some  safer  spot  in  the  province  of  Honan, 
where  he  would  be  free  from  the  danger  of  incursions 
from  the  barbarians. 

The  year  of  Shotoku's  death  was  also  the  year  of  the 
Hejirah,  the  year  in  which  Mohammed  fled  to  Medina  and 
announced  his  divine  mission  to  the  astonished  world. 
Ten  years  later,  Izdegerd,  King  of  Persia,  was  fighting  for 
his  very  existence  against  the  victorious  Arabs  who  had 
gone  forth  conquering  and  to  conquer,  and  by  the  year 
640  the  whole  of  Persia,  with  Merv,  Balkh,  Herat,  every- 
thing as  far  as  the  Indus  and  the  Oxus,  had  submitted  to 
the  sword  of  the  new-born  enthusiasm.  That  Persia,  in 
the  pangs  of  her  last  crisis,  appealed  to  China  for  help  is 
known.  After  Izdegerd's  death  in  651,  his  son  fled  into 
Turkestan,  from  whence  he  made  his  way  to  China.  He 
succeeded  in  persuading  the  Chinese  to  take  over  the 
administration  of  the  whole  country  between  their  frontier 
and  that  of  the  Arabs,  and  it  was  as  Chinese  Viceroy 
of  that  district  that  he  was  attacked  and  defeated  by 
the  Arabs  in  670,  and  obliged  once  more  to  flee  to 
Singanfu.^ 

Was  it  chance,  or  was  it  the  design  of  Heaven,  that, 
in  the  year  636,  shortly  after  Izdegerd  had  entered  upon 
his  last  fatal  war  against  the  Arabs,  there  arrived  in 
Singanfu  a  Christian  mission  hailing  from  Persia  ? 

When  the  Nestorian  protest  against  the  use  of  the 
word  Theotokos  as  applied  to  the  mother  of  Our  Lord 

»  E.  H.  Parker,  "  China :  Her  History,  Diplomacy,  and  Commerco." 

O 


194    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

had  been  condemned  by  the  Council  of  Ephesus  in  a.d. 
431,  the  followers  of  Nestorius,  finding  themselves  liable 
to  unjust  persecution  in  the  Eoman  Empire,  withdrew 
into  Persia,  where  they  were  well  received,  and  enabled 
to  establish  flourishing  communities,  not  only  in  Persia, 
but  in  Balkh,  Merv,  Central  Asia,  and  India.  They  were 
loyal  to  the  country  of  their  adoption,  as  well  they  might 
be ;  that  country  was  now  in  distress,  and  was  looking  to 
China  for  help;  a  Christian  mission  in  China  might  be 
productive  of  much  good,  both  spiritually  and  politically. 
The  mission  was,  therefore,  sent ;  ^  it  arrived  at  Singanfu  in 
636,  and  was  well  received  by  the  Emperor  and  his  suc- 
cessors, some  of  whom  issued  edicts  in  favour  of  the  faith, 
or  gave  money  for  building  "  temples  of  felicity,"  as  they 
were  called,  whilst  one  went  so  far  in  his  patronage  that, 

'  It  purported  to  come  from  a  certain  Potolik,  King  of  Fulin. 
Professor  Hirth  gives  reason  for  saying  that  Potolik  =  Patriarch,  and 
that  Fulin  is  to  be  pronounced  as  Pat-lam,  the  birthplace  of  Christ 
being  taken  as  =  to  Christendom,  just  as  Magadha  to  the  Chinese  stood 
for  India. 

That  the  Nestorian  mission  was  as  much  political  as  religious  may 
e  seen  in  the  fact  that  an  Olopen  (was  it  a  name  or  a  title  ?)  visited 
the  court  of  the  great  Indian  ruler  Siladitya  Harsha  in  636.  It  is 
clear  that  the  Nestorians,  making  common  cause  with  their  Persian 
protectors  and  friends,  were  actively  engaged  in  trying  to  procure 
allies  for  them  in  their  warfare  against  the  Arabian  invaders.  Many 
Nestorian  dioceses  were  destroyed  when  the  Arabs  annexed  Merv, 
Balkh,  Herat,  etc.,  in  a.d.  644.  Hiouen  Thsang,  the  Chinese  traveller, 
was  also  in  India  at  the  time,  returning  to  China  in  a.d.  645.  It  is 
also  noteworthy  that  from  this  date  both  Siladitya  Harsha  and 
Taitsung  now  become  more  favourable  to  Buddhism.  Neumann 
("  Asiatische  Studien,"  i.  166)  quotes,  out  of  a  Chinese  work  published 
about  A.D.  602,  a  description  of  Persia,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  there 
were  many  Buddhist  temples  in  the  Persian  capital.  Buddhist 
survivals  are  still  to  be  traced  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Shiite,  and  still 
more  so  in  those  of  the  Sufite,  sect  of  Mahometanism,  It  is  quite 
probable  that  both  Zoroastrianism  and  Manichseism  were  looked  upon 
as  legitimate  variants  of  Buddhism.  There  were  Nestorians  in  China 
before  Olopen — some  are  mentioned  as  early  as  a.d.  508. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    195 

without  becoming  a  Christian,  he  would  still  keep  the 
Christmas  festival  with  his  Nestorian  subjects.  There 
were  times  of  persecution,  to  be  sure  ;  but  the  ITestorian 
missions  survived  them  all.  In  the  year  1293  the 
Franciscans  under  John  of  Montecorvino  arrived  at  Peking, 
and  found  the  Nestorians  in  full  force;  in  1304,  the 
Nestorian  Patriarch  of  Baghdad,  the  head  of  the  whole 
Nestorian  Church,  submitted  himself  to  Rome,  and  the 
Chinese  Nesfcorians  seem  to  have  thought  it  best  to  follow 
his  example.  In  1305,  John  de  Montecorvino  reported 
very  large  accessions  to  his  flock,  and  the  Nestorians  of 
China  disappear  from  history. 

There  was  also  in  Singanfu  and  its  neighbourhood  the 
zeal  of  Buddhism,  aroused  by  the  sense  of  its  new  dangers. 
The  luxury  of  the  Sui,  and  of  many  of  the  sovereigns  of 
the  illegitimate  states,  had  been  suffered  by  the  Buddhists 
to  go  unreproved.  Nay,  they  had  profited  by  the  dis- 
tractions and  evils  of  the  times,  and  had  secured  for 
themselves  wealth,  position,  and  exemptions  from  taxation 
as  the  price  of  the  support  they  gave  to  luxurious  and 
ambitious  princes.  All  these  things  had  brought  upon 
them  the  hatred  and  contempt  of  the  lettered  classes,  and 
the  undisguised  hostility  of  powerful  sovereigns,  like 
Kaotsung  and  others,  must  have  warned  them  to  set  their 
house  in  order  if  they  would  continue  in  their  former 
prosperity.  We  can  see  many  signs  of  this  movement  of 
reform  produced  by  fear.  The  new  school  of  translation 
inaugurated  by  Kumarajiva,  the  suggested  amalgamation 
of  Buddhism  with  Taoism,  the  new  revelations  (for  they 
amounted  to  that)  of  the  Hossd  and  the  Kegon,  and  the 
wide-embracing  system  inaugurated  by  Chisha  Daishi  of 
the  Tendai,  all  point  to  the  same  conclusion. 

Bodhidharma  and  Zendo  ^  alone  aimed  at  simplification, 
*  For  Zend5,  see  note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter. 


196    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

but  the  former  was  not  represented  at  the  capital  of 
the  Sui  and  Tang.  Zendo,  however,  was  there,  and  his 
preaching  of  salvation  by  faith  was  welcomed  by  the 
poor.  He  was  the  popular  preacher  of  the  hour,  and  the 
popularity  of  his  preaching  drew  upon  him  the  hostility 
of  the  other  sects.  Tendai,  Hosso,  Kegon  have  always 
been  the  enemies  of  the  simple  faith  preached  by  Zendo. 
They  have  always  treated  it  as  something  alien  to  Bud- 
dhism, and  so  perhaps  it  was.  At  any  rate,  there  it  was 
in  Singanfu,  side  by  side  with  many  alien  faiths,  during 
that  momentous  half-century  which  meant  so  very  much 
for  the  religious  development  of  the  Far  East. 

It  was  probably  about  this  time  also  that  the  Mani- 
chsean  missions  reached  China  proper.  They  had  long 
ere  this  time  been  in  the  Turfan  and  Khotan  districts, 
but  probably  never  reached  China  itself  until  the  time 
of  the  Tangs.  The  recent  discoveries  of  German  and 
other  explorers  are  likely  in  a  short  time  to  add  so  much 
to  our  knowledge  of  Manichseism  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  here  to  dilate  upon  the  subject.  Let  us  content 
ourselves  with  noting  that  Manichseism  was  in  China, 
and  was  one  of  the  rivals  of  Buddhism. 

Magians,  Christians,  Manichaeans,  three  rivals,  and  the 
old  enemies  to  boot,  Confucianism  and  Taoism.  With 
Kaotsu  and  Taitsung  on  the  throne  of  the  united  empire, 
and  putting  down  Buddhist  monasteries  with  a  strong 
hand,  things  looked  very  dark  indeed  for  the  Chinese 
Mahayana.  Hiouen  Thsang  was  the  man  who  saved  it  in 
this  crisis.  Born  in  602,  and  admitted  to  the  priesthood 
in  622,  Hiouen  Thsang  determined  to  travel  to  India  and 
collect  accurate  information  and  materials  from  the  original 
home  of  Buddhism  for  the  defence  of  the  faith  which  he 
saw  threatened  from  within  and  from  without.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  he  mistrusted  the  Central  Asian  tradi- 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    197 

tions.  Starting  in  629,  he  made  a  tour  of  such  Buddhist 
countries  in  Central  Asia  as  had  not  yet  fallen  a  prey 
to  the  Arabs,  and  in  India,  where  he  was  royally  treated 
by  the  great  king  Siladitya  Harsha,  one  of  the  last  of  its 
Buddhist  sovereigns.  When  he  returned  to  China,  the 
movement  hostile  to  Buddhism  had  for  the  time  spent 
its  strength,  and  when,  about  646,  he  published  transla- 
tions of  some  of  the  new  books  he  had  brought  with  him, 
the  Emperor  himself  deigned  to  write  a  preface.^ 

Hiouen  Thsang,  the  Max  Miiller  of  his  day,  was  in 
direct  relations  with  Japan.  In  655,  about  the  time  of 
the  accession  of  the  Empress  Saimei,  a  priest  from 
Kawachi,  a  Sozu  ^  of  the  name  of  Doso,  went  over  to 
China  with  the  ambassadors  sent  to  announce  the  new 
sovereign's  accession,  and  there,  meeting  with  Hiouen 
Thsang,  learnt  from  him  the  Hosso  or  Dharma-lakshana 
doctrines,  which  the  great  doctor  was  preaching.  Five 
years  later,  in  the  same  reign,  two  more  priests,  Chitsu  and 
Chitatsu,  crossed  to  China  in  a  ship  of  Shiragi,  and  were 
initiated  into  the  Hosso  mysteries  by  Hiouen  Thsang  and 
his  coadjutor  Jion  daishi.  In  the  third  year  of  Taiho 
(704),  another  batch  of  these  priests  went  to  China,  armed 
with  letters  from  their  sovereign,  and  studied  the  doctrines 

•  Hiojien  Thsang  gives  us  the  best  contemporary  picture  we  possess 
of  Buddhist  India.  If  it  were  not  for  him  and  the  other  Chinese 
pilgrims,  who  visited  India,  we  should  know  nothing  of  the  history  of 
that  country  for  several  centuries.  Hiouen  Thsang,  in  addition  to 
his  own  contributions  to  the  theology  of  Buddhism,  brought  back  the 
materials  with  which  the  purely  Chinese  sects,  such  as  Tendai  and 
Kegon  (Avatamsaka),  were  afterwards  established. 

*  Sozu,  a  Japanese  ecclesiastical  title  equivalent  to  our  canon  or 
archdeacon.  The  lawlessness  and  want  of  discipline  among  the  monks, 
whose  numbers  were  very  large  owing  to  the  indiscriminate  patronage 
of  the  faith  by  devotee  sovereigns  during  this  period,  gave  rise  to  many 
attempts  to  regulate  the  Buddhist  clergy  by  the  appointment  of  over- 
seers or  superintendents.  | 


198    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

of  the  Unity  (Yuishiki)  under  Chisho  Daishi.  Thus 
three  *  distinct  strains  of  Hosso  teachings  came  to  Japan, 
and  blended  there,  and  though  the  Hosso  sect,  qua  sect, 
disappeared  shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Nara  age,  it  lett 
perhianent  traces  in  the  religious  history  of  the  country. 
For  Doso  and  Chitatsu  had  as  their  principal  disciple  the 
celebrated  Gyogi  Bosatsu*^  to  •whom  is  attributed  the  in- 
vention of  the  Ryobu  Shinto,^  which  made  it  possible  for 
Buddhism  to  strike  deep  roots  in  the  religious  conscious- 
ness of  Japan. 

If  we  trace  back  this  teaching  to  its  earliest  origin 
we  shall  see  what  it  meant,  and  how  powerfully  it  was 
likely  to  affect  the  situation  in  Japan.  "We  shall  also  see, 
incidentally,  how  far  the  Mahayana  had  by  this  time 
travelled  from  the  simplicity  of  S'akyamuni's  teachings. 

*  There  were  actually  four  strains  of  the  Hosso  in  Japan. 

*  Chyogi  Bosatsu,  a  celebrated  Korean  priest  (670-749),  who  enjoyed 
great  influence  in  Japan.  It  was  he  who  administered  Baptism 
(Kwanjo)  to  the  reigning  emperor, 

'  Ryobu  Shinto,  an  amalgamation  of  Buddhism  and  Shinto,  which 
was  not  done  away  with  officially  until  the  beginning  of  the  Meiji 
period. 

One  of  the  natural  consequences  of  the  adoption  of  the  system  known 
as  Ryobu  {"  two  parts  ")  was  that,  by  treating  the  native  gods  of  Japan 
as  merely  incarnations  of  one  or  other  of  the  Buddhas,  and  as  therefore 
entitled  to  the  worship  of  the  Buddhists,  the  Japanese  were  enabled  to 
introduce  into  their  Buddhism  many  non-Buddhist  elements.  Thus 
Amida  andiVairoc'ana,  both  of  them  symbolized  by  the  Sun,  came  to  be 
identified  with  Tenshokodaijin,  the  "  Heaven-shining-mighty  goddess," 
from  whom  the  Imperial  house  claims  descent.  (The  change  of  sex  is 
imimportant,  for  many  of  the  Buddhas  and  Bodhisattvas,  e.g.  Kwan- 
non,  are  bisexual.)  Thus,  too.  Buddhism,  which  absolutely  forbids  the 
taking  of  life,  gained  a  Buddhified  god  of  war  in  Hachiman,  and  Bud- 
dhist monks,  who  worshipped  the  god  of  war,  could  with  quiet  con- 
sciences take  to  fighting.  Nichiren  ("  Seigoroku,"  p.  132)  speaks  of 
Tenshodaijin  and  Hachiman  as  the  true  lords  of  Japan,  revealed  in  later 
times  as  Buddhas,  and  Hideyoshi,  who  openly  avowed  his  desire  for 
deification,  built  for  himself  a  temple  in  which  he  intended  to  be 
worshipped  after  his  death  as  Shin  Hachiman,  the  now  god  of  war. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    199 

The  Hosso  sect  traced  itself  back  to  the  brothers 
Asangha  and  Vasubandhu,  whom  we  may  place  at  the 
beginning  of  the  fourth  century  a.d.  It  was  an  age  of 
syncretism  and  eclecticism.  Mani,  the  founder  of  Mani- 
chaeism,  had  already  worked  out  his  great  religion,  which 
was  destined  to  spread  so  widely  and  to  have  so  extended 
and  varied  an  influence,  and  Mani  had  laboured  in  India, 
as  well  as  studied  in  Alexandria  and  Babylon.  The 
Buddhists  in  India,  hard  pressed  by  the  arguments  of 
Hindu  philosophers,  such  as  the  doughty  Sankaracharya, 
were  casting  about  for  new  ways  of  putting  their  principles 
before  the  Hindu  world.  The  Dharmalakshana  or  Hosso 
teachings  of  Asangha  and  Vasubandhu  were  intended  to 
build  a  bridge  between  Hinduism  and  the  Mahayana,  of 
such  a  nature  that  the  Buddhist  might,  as  it  were,  invade 
the  territory  of  Hinduism  and  conquer  without  seeming 
to  do  so. 

The  teaching  was  based,  as  I  have  said,  on  a  revelation 
or  quasi-revelation.  Whilst  Asangha  was  lecturing  in 
Ayodhya,  the  present  Oude,  in  India,  he  received  a 
heavenly  visitor,  the  great  Bodhisattva  Maitreya,^  the 
disciple  of  S'akyamuni,  who  had  received  the  promise  of 
becoming  the  future  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  who  was 
waiting  in  the  celestial  regions  for  the  fulness  of  the  times 
to  come.  Maitreya,  appearing  in  the  lecture  hall,  ex- 
pounded for  Asangha  a  secret  and  mysterious  doctrine 
which  he  had  been  commissioned  to  deliver.  He  had 
come  from  a  Buddha  greater  and  wiser  than  S'akyamuni, 
from  the  great  Buddha  Loc'ana,  or  Boshana,  whose  colossal 
statue  is  now  known  as  the  Daibutsu  of  Nara,  and  who 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Vairoc'ana  of  the  Shingon 
sect,  introduced  later  by  the  Kegon  doctors  and  Kobodaishi; 

^  For  this,  see  the, chapter  on  Hossd  in  vol.  i.  of  "  Bukky5  Kakushu 
K5yo." 


200         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Eoshana,  said  Maitreya,  was  the  Supreme  Being,  invisible 
but  all-powerful.  When  He  showed  Himself  upon  earth, 
it  was  through  the  personality  of  two  great  spiritual 
Beings,  Maitreya  Himself,  and  Manjusri,  the  potent 
Bodhisattva  of  China.^ 

One  of  the  keynotes  of  the  Hosso  teaching  (it  would 
require  a  large  volume  to  describe  it  all)  is  the  doctrine 
of  Oneness  from  which  the  other  name  of  the  sect,  the 
Yuishikikyo,  or  Oneness  sect,  is  derived,  A  Christian 
would  say,  "  God  is  One,  and  besides  Him  there  is  none 
other."  But  the  Hosso  sect  (if  we  may  use  the  word 
"  God  "  for  Buddhist  speculations)  would  put  it  a  little 
otherwise.  "  God  is  One,  and  besides  Him  there  is  nothing." 
The  Universe,  or  God  (for  the  two  were  treated  as 
identical)  was  looked  upon  as  a  mighty  ocean,  unfathom- 
able and  unlimited,  and  the  phenomena  of  nature  and  life, 
trees  and  plants,  birds  and  beasts,  sun  and  stars,  men, 
angels,  and  even  the  gods  whom  men  worshipped,  were 
but  the  waves  which  appear  for  a  moment  on  the  surface, 
vanish,  and  reappear  in  a  different  shape.  The  wave  I 
look  at  now  is  but  a  rearrangement  of  the  drops  in  the 
wave  which  appeared  in  a  different  shape  in  another  part 
of  the  bay.  The  god  I  worship  now,  on  the  Himalaya 
slopes,  I  call  by  the  name  of  S'akyamuni ;  rearrange  the 
particles  that  compose  him,  and  he  will  appear  presently 
on  the  plains  of  the  Ganges  as  the  Hindu  Vishnu.  The 
name  and  the  form  have  been  changed,  the  essence  which 
is  a  part  of  the  great  Ocean  of  the  Universe,  which  is 
God,  is  unchanged,  and  remains  identically  the  same. 
Thus  it  came  in  India  that  men  passed  from  one  cult  to 

'  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  the  different  schools  of  the  Mahayana 
nearly  all  present  us  with  a  Triad  or  Trinity.  Between  this  Trinity  of 
Locana,  Maitreya,  ManjuSri,  and  the  Pure-land  Trinity  of  Amitabha, 
Avalokites'vara,  and  Mahasthamaprftpta  there  is  only  a  difference  of 
names.    The  concepts  are  identical. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   201 

the  other,  and  that  the  Hindus,  to  this  day,  look  upon 
S'akyamuni  as  one  incarnation  of  their  god  Vishnu. 

This  was  the  doctrine  which  enabled  Gyogi  Bosatsu, 
and  other  leading  priests  of  the  Nara  period,  to  propound 
the  doctrine  of  Ryobu-Shinto  (or  Bydhu-Bukhyo,  as  it  is 
also  called).  According  to  this  doctrine,  the  ancient  gods 
of  Japan,  Amaterasu,  the  goddess  of  the  Sun,  and  the 
other  divinities  whom  the  Japanese  had  brought  from 
their  unknown  original  homes  on  the  continent  of  Asia, 
were  not  independent  spiritual  Beings,  but  merely  fresh 
incarnations  of  that  same  divine  Essence  which  had  moved 
for  a  while  on  the  surface  of  things,  as  this  or  that  one 
of  the  great  Bodhisattvas  and  Buddhas  of  the  Indian 
religion.  Buddhism  had  not  come  to  destroy  the  faith 
of  Japan,  but  to  strengthen  it  with  the  additional  light 
that  was  shining  forth  from  India  and  China.  How  far 
the  movement  was  a  popular  one,  may  be  doubted.  The 
common  people  counted  for  very  little  in  those  days ;  it 
was  an  oracle,  issuing  from  the  Temple  at  Ise,  that 
authoritatively  proclaimed  the  identity  of  Amaterasu  and 
Vairoc'ana.^  A  few  years  before,  in  the  year  616,  the 
great  god  of  Miwa  ^  had  very  obligingly  let  it  be  known 
throughout  Japan  that  the  proper  ministers  to  take  charge 
of  funeral  rites  were  the  Buddhist  clergy.^  This  amounted 
practically  to  an  endowment  of  Buddhism. 

'  Nichiren  (see  "  Sei-go-roku,"  possiw)i  was  very  scathing  in  his 
denunciation  of  this  spurious  oracle,  as  he  termed  it.  Nichirenism 
had  no  official  connection  with  Ryobu,  and  yet,  on  occasions,  it  too 
would  turn  to  Hachiman  and  Tenshodaijin. 

2  Miwa  is  a  town  in  Yamato,  with  a  well-known  Shinto  temple. 
The  oracle  is  mentioned  by  Dr.  Murakami  on  p.  859  of  his  handbook. 

*  Most  of  the  present  fvmeral  customs  of  Japan  date  from  the  Nara 
period.  Strange  to  say,  most  of  them  imply  the  continuance  of  the 
soul  after  death.  This  is  absolutely  contrary  to  the  original  doctrines 
of  Buddhism ;  but  the  Japanese  belief  in  immortality  was  too  deeply 
engrained  to  be  easily  eradicated. 


202         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Another  sect  which  made  its  appearance  in  Japan 
during  the  Nara  period  was  the  Kegon,  or  Avatamsaka 
sect,  which  was  introduced  in  736.  It  was  one  of  purely 
Chinese  origin,  though  the  books  on  which  it  was  based 
came  originally  from  India,  and  had  been  founded  at 
the  end  of  the  Sui  and  beginning  of  the  Tang  dynasties, 
between  600  and  660,  by  a  priest  whose  name  the  Japanese 
pronounce  as  Tojun  (j^  |^).  It  represented,  when  it  arose, 
one  of  the  latest  developments  of  Chinese  Buddhist  thought 
(it  came  into  prominence  a  little  after  the  Hosso).  The 
Japanese  have  always  wanted  to  have  the  very  latest  in 
every  department  of  human  thought. 

Like  the  Hosso,  the  Kegon  went  back  for  its  origin 
to  the  very  beginnings  of  the  Mahayana.  When  Nagar- 
juna,  in  his  wanderings,  had  reached  the  Himalayas,  he  was 
taken  to  the  Dragon  Palace  under  the  Sea,  out  of  which 
he  fetched  the  wonderful  book  known  as  the  Avatam- 
saka Sutra,^  which  was  to  form  the  basis  of  the  new  sect. 
It  is  a  very  difficult  book,  and  very  long :  many  trans- 
lators in  earlier  times  had  tried  their  hands  at  it,  but  had 
only  produced  fragmentary  versions  of  individual  chapters.^ 
Now  at  last,  in  the  Tang  period,  a  version  of  the  whole 
was  accomplished.  The  enterprise  had  the  warmest  en- 
couragement from  the  Court,  and  one  of  the  Tang 
empresses  early  in  the  eighth  century,  not  only  sent  to 
Khotan  to  procure  a  complete  copy  of  the  Sanskrit  Sutra, 

1  See  Nanjo,  No.  87. 

*  The  list  of  Avatamsaka  Sutras  given  by  Nanjo  gives  us  some  data 
for  fixing  the  age  of  Nagarjuna.  One  of  the  chapters  was  translated  by 
Lokaraksha  of  the  Han  Dynasty  who  reached  Loyang  in  a,d.  147.  It 
would  follow  that  Nagarjuna  must  have  lived  before  that  date.  Again, 
all  Buddhist  authorities  in  Japan  place  him  600  years  after  the  Parinir- 
vana.  If  we  fix  that  at  about  500  B.C.  we  get  Nagarjuna's  date  about 
100  A.D.,  which  agrees  very  well  both  with  the  translation  of  the  chapter 
by  Lokaraksha  and  with  the  year  assigned  by  Eusebius  and  other 
writers  for  the  terminus  a  quo  of  Gnosticism. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   203 

but  also  wrote  a  preface  for  the  Chinese  version  when 
it  came  out.^  It  may  have  been  that,  in  view  of  the  close 
proximity  once  more  of  Christianity,  Buddhism  felt  the 
need  of  advancing  supernatural  claims.^  The  Avatam- 
saka  Sutra  is  full  of  the  supernatural.  In  the  days  of 
S'akyamuni's  life,  immediately  after  he  had,  under  the 
Bo-tree,  attained  to  Enlightenment,  he  had  (so  it  was  said) 
remained  in  a  trance  of  awe  and  wonder  for  the  space 
of  two  weeks.  It  was  now  alleged  that  during  that 
time  he  had  in  spirit  ascended  to  the  highest  heaven, 
where,  in  a  kind  of  Transfiguration,  he  had  conversed 
with  the  two  great  Bodhisattvas— Manju^ri  and  Samanta- 
bhadra — in  the  very  presence  of  the  Supreme  and  Ever- 
lasting Buddha  Vairoc'ana.^  The  doctrines  thus  delivered 
had  been  of  a  very  deep  and  mysterious  character,  too 
deep  for  the  ordinary  mind  of  men  to  comprehend. 
S'akyamuni  had  therefore  laid  them  aside  for  a  while, 
and  had  not  reverted  to  them  again  until  towards  the 
close  of  his  ministry,  when  the  disciples  were  sufficiently 
advanced  to  receive  them. 

We  have  thus,  as  it  were,  three  different   Buddhist 

1  Nanjo,  "  Cat.  of  Tripitaka,"  Nos.  87,  88. 

*  Mr.  G.  Sakurai,  in  the  now  defunct  Hansei  Zasshi,  vol.  xiii. 
p.  12,  says  that  in  a.d.  781  one  of  the  Indian  translators  of  the  Tang 
period,  PrajnS,  by  name,  who  had  come  to  China  in  order  to  get  near 
the  scene  of  Manjusri's  labours,  was  actually  collaborating  with  the 
Nestorian  priest  King  Ching,  or  Adam,  the  man  who  erected  the  Sin- 
ganfu  monument.  Between  them  they  made  a  translation  of  the  "  Shat- 
paramita  Sutra,"  which  they  offered  to  the  Emperor  Tetsung.  The 
Emperor,  however,  refused  to  receive  it,  saying  that  King  Ching  should 
devote  himself  to  preaching  the  doctrines  of  MeshiJio  (Messiah),  leaving 
the  Buddhists  to  propagate  the  teachings  of  S'akyamuni.  The  book 
therefore  appears  in  Prajna's  name  only. 

'  Vairoc'ana  is  said  to  be  distinct  from  the  Roshana  of  the  Hosso, 
though  in  practice  he  is  almost  always  identified  with  him.  I  have 
drawn  my  materials  from  the  chapters  on  Hosso  and  Kegon  in  "  Bukkyo 
Kakuahu  Koyo,"  vol.  i. 


204         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Trinities — the  Trinity  of  the  Hosso,  namely,  Roshana, 
Maitreya,  and  Manjusri ;  that  of  the  Kegon,  Vairoc'ana, 
Samantabhadra  (Fugen),  and  Manjusri ;  that  of  the  Pure 
Land,  Amitabha,  Kwannon,  and  Seishi — all  claiming  to 
come  from  the  beginnings  of  the  Mahayana,  all  supposed 
to  have  appeared  simultaneously  in  China,  just  at  the 
time  when  Christian  missions  first  made  their  way  to 
that  empire,  and  all  three  brought  over  to  Japan  during 
the  early  years  of  the  Nara  period.  At  bottom  the  three 
sets  meant  pretty  much  the  same  thing,  and  the  ethics 
of  Buddhism  were  much  the  same  whoever  preached 
them;  but  the  three  represented  sectarian  differences, 
and  there  speedily  appeared  rivalries  between  jealous 
monks  competing  with  one  another  for  the  favour  of 
the  court  and  nobility.  This  was  one  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  Nara  age.^ 

The  student  who  has  the  time,  inclination,  and  oppor- 
tunity to  prosecute  further  the  study  of  this  period,  will 
find  it  full  of  very  valuable  historical  material  which 
throws  a  flood  of  light  on  the  present  life  and  thought 
of  the  Japanese  people.  Such  a  research  lies  far  beyond 
the  scope  of  the  present  work.^  We  may,  however,  refer 
to  one  or  two  points  of  importance. 

'  It  is  very  interesting  to  trace  chronologically  the  workings  of  the 
different  Buddhist  sects  in  the  early  years  of  Japanese  Buddhism.  Of 
the  rival  Trinities,  the  first  to  reach  Japan  is  undoubtedly  that  which 
has  Amitabha  as  its  central  figure.  A  century  later  comes  the  Trinity 
of  Boshana,  and  still  later  again  that  of  Vairoc'ana.  For  a  while 
syncretism  prevails,  and  an  attempt  is  made  to  treat  the  three  as 
identical.  Geshin  is  the  first  to  see  that  this  syncretism  is  impossible. 
Finally,  Honen  and  Shinran,  in  the  twelfth  century,  get  the  courage 
of  their  convictions,  and  proclaim  Amida  as  the  True  and  only  Refuge 
of  the  Buddhist  believer. 

^  I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  European  reader  to  the  very 
suggestive  work  '*  Le  Japon,"  by  M.  de  la  Mazeli^re,  of  which,  I  believe, 
three  volumes  have  appeared.    The  author  brings  out  very  clearly  the 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   205 

Amongst  a  number  of  sovereigns  of  no  special  im- 
portance Kotoku  Tenno  (645-654)  is  distinguished  for 
the  zeal  with  which  he  worked  along  the  lines  of  political 
and  civil  reform  laid  down  by  Shotoku.  The  Taikwa 
reforms  (so  called  from  the  Nengo  ^  or  year-period  in 
which  they  were  issued — an  institution  then  first  borrowed 
from  China)  brought  the  institutions  of  Japan  very  near 
to  the  Chinese  models.  The  old  offices  of  the  Omi  and 
Omuraji^  were  abolished,  and  three  new  officers,  with 
Chinese  titles,  Sadaijin,  Udaijin,  Naidaijin,  appointed 
to  take  their  place.  Exact  reports  were  demanded  from 
the  governors  of  the  provinces  as  to  the  conditions  and 
needs  of  the  people,  a  simple  but  (for  the  time)  sufficient 
Court  of  Appeal  was  instituted,  in  the  shape  of  a  box 
placed  at  the  palace  gates  to  receive  the  complaints  of 
the  people,  provincial  boundaries  were  fixed,  and  the 
Sanden  shuja-ho,  whilst  providing  that  each  peasant 
family  should  have  a  minimum  allotment  of  rice  land 
(two  tan  for  a  man,  and  a  little  more  than  one  tan  for 
a  woman),  also  provided  for  the  revenues  of  the  State 
by  taking  one-twentieth  of  the  produce  for  State  purposes. 
Thus  the  State  became  the  universal  landlord,  and  the 
people  paid  a  single  tax  inclusive  of  rent.  The  reforms 
were  not  carried  out  without  opposition.  Soga  Ishikawa- 
maro,  who  held  the  office  of  Udaijin,  was  falsely  accused 

points  of  Japan's  indebtedness  to  China  and  India  for  the  materials 
of  much  of  her  religious  thought. 

^  The  practice  of  reckoning  time  by  certain  periods  of  years  arbi- 
trarily fixed  from  time  to  time,  for  the  purpose  of  worrying  the 
historian,  had  been  long  in  vogue  in  China.  Kotoku  introduced  it 
in  Japan,  and  there  have  been  over  240  such  periods  since  that  time. 

*  The  Omi  and  Omuraji  were  in  ancient  times  the  ministers  of  the 
Emperor.  The  offices  were  hereditary.  The  new  offices  were  not  so  in 
intention,  but  the  Japanese  is  an  oligarch  by  constitution,  and  the  new 
offices  gradually  came  to  be  monopolized  by  certain  families. 


206    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

by  his  enemies  and  unjustly  done  to  death  in  649.^  Less 
than  fifteen  years  later  the  Emperor  Tenji  (662-671) 
found  it  necessary  to  extirpate  the  Soga  family,  and  to 
call  to  his  assistance  the  family  of  the  Fujiwara,^  who 
have  contrived  to  hold  their  great  position,  in  one  form 
or  another,  down  to  the  present  day.  Tenji  Tenno  out- 
lined the  great  Taihoryo^  Code  of  Laws,  which,  pro- 
mulgated in  a  subsequent  reign,  in  a.d.  701,  remained 
in  force,  with  but  few  modifications,  right  down  to  the 
commencement  of  the  Meiji  era. 

The  Nara  period  also  saw  the  publication  of  the  two 
great  chronicles  of  ancient  Japan — the  "  Kojiki "  and  the 
"  Nihongi,"  *  published,  the  one  in  712,  and  containing 
the  history  of  Japan  from  the  creation  to  the  close  of  the 
reign  of  the  Empress  Suiko  (a.d,  628) ;  the  other,  published 
in  722,  and  covering  very  much  the  same  ground.  In 
estimating  their  value,  it  must  be  remembered  that  they 
are  chronicles  and  not  histories,  and  that,  even  so,  the 
writers  were  obviously  inspired  with  a  desire  to  assert 
for  Japan  an  antiquity,  and  consequently  a  dignity,  equal 
to  that  claimed  by  the  empire  of  the  haughty  Tangs. 
The  lives  of  early  sovereigns  have  therefore  been  in  some 
cases   extended  beyond  all   bounds    of  probability,  and 

1  That  is  the  Buddhist  version.  It  is  claimed  by  Soga's  enemies 
that  he,  true  to  family  traditions,  was  aspiring  to  the  crown. 

'  To  estimate  the  greatness  of  this  aristocratic  family,  which  has 
supplied  such  a  long  list  of  imperial  consorts,  the  student  is  referred 
to  the  pages  devoted  to  the  subject  in  Pr.  Papinot's  "  Dictionnaire 
d'Histoire  et  de  G6ographie  du  Japon." 

*  For  the  Taihoryo,  see  Trajisactions  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan, 
vol.  viii.  p.  145. 

*  Of  the  "  Kojiki "  there  is  a  translation  by  Chamberlain  {Asiatic 
Society  of  Japan,  vol.  x.,  Supp.) ;  of  the  "  Nihongi,"  one  in  English  by 
Aston  {Japan  •  Society,  London,  Supp.  I.) ;  and  one  in  German  by 
Florenz  {Mitteilungen  der  deutschen  Gesellschaft  fur  Natur  and  VSlker- 
kunde  Ostasiens.    Tok^o), 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   207 

there  are  inconsistencies  (not  to  say  falsifications)  which 
modem  writers  (even  Japanese  among  them)  have  not 
failed  to  note.^  There  is  practically  no  credible  history 
of  Japan  and  Japanese  events  before  the  introduction  of 
Buddhism. 

For  the  rest,  the  age  was  uncritical,  superstitious,  and 
therefore  credulous.  When  the  Kegon  Scriptures  were 
being  expounded  in  the  palace  a  pink  cloud  hovered  over 
the  building,  which  was  taken  to  denote  the  presence  of 
a  celestial  audience.  A  priest  in  the  mountains  of  Tamba, 
who  served  a  temple  dedicated  to  Kwannon,  was  snowed 
up  one  winter's  day,  and,  being  cut  off  from  access  to  the 
outer  world  for  nearly  a  week,  was  in  danger  of  starvation. 
As  he  prayed  he  heard  a  sound  in  the  veranda,  and, 
going  out,  found  a  joint  of  venison  placed  there.  He 
ate  it  and  lived,  though  by  eating  it  he  broke  the  laws 
of  Buddhism.  Some  time  after  this,  whUst  cleaning  his 
temple,  he  discovered  the  giver  of  the  venison.  From 
the  thigh  of  the  statue  of  Kwannon  had  been  cut  a  piece 
of — wood,  shall  we  call  it  ?  or  flesh  ? — the  exact  size  of 
the  venison  that  had  been  placed  on  the  veranda.^  The 
deity  himself,  at  the  cost  of  a  painful  self-sacrifice,  had 
saved  the  life  of  his  worshipper. 

Wonder  was  in  the  air,  and  therefore  when  the  Goddess 
of  Ise  proclaimed  her  identity  with  Amitabha,  or  Vairo- 
c'ana,  it  was  believed ;  and  when  the  strange  tales  of  the 
"  Kojiki  "  came  out,  they  also  were  accepted  in  faith.  It 
is  easy  to  sneer  at  the  ages  of  credulity ;  it  would  be  wiser, 
perhaps,  to  look  back  at  the  strange  stories  current  in 
Europe  during  the  same  period,  which   our  forefathers 

^  See,  e.g.,  vol.  i.  of  Murdoch's  "  History  of  Japan." 
*  I  specially  notice  this  particular  instance,  because  the  mention  of 
venison  seems  to  connect  it  with  the  deer  Jataka,  which  reappears  in 
Christian  folklore  as  the  legend  of  St.  Eustathius,  and  afterwards  as 
that  of  St.  Hubert. 


208    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

believed  with  simple  credulity.  People  who  live  in 
glass  houses  cannot  afford  to  throw  stones.  At  the 
same  time  no  one  could  possibly  hold  up  the  Buddhism 
of  the  Nara  age  as  a  model  for  any  one's  admiration  or 
imitation. 

Additional  Note  to  Chapter  XIX. 

(Extracted  from  "  Shinran  and  his  Work,"  as  showing  the  great 
importance  of  Zendo  in  the  history  of  the  Jodo  Mahayana.) 

KOMYOJI  {%   19  ^)- 

In  the  year  614  a.d.  a  boy  was  born  in  China.  By  what  precise 
name  his  parents  first  knew  him  I  do  not  know.  Judging  from 
the  analogy  of  other  men  similarly  situated,  he  had  many  names 
at  different  periods  of  his  life.  The  name  by  which  he  was  last 
known  was  Zendo  (|^  ^),  but  that  was  almost  certainly  not  the 
name  of  his  childhood.  His  family  name  was  Shu  {^),  and  he 
was  bom  in  the  district  of  Shishii  (fH  *m). 

When  he  was  bom  the  Sui  *  dynasty  was  tottering  to  its  fall, 
and  had  in  fact  only  four  years  more  of  life.  Already,  we  may 
believe,  was  the  Duke  of  Tang,  on  the  extreme  north-west 
boundaries  of  the  Empire,  conspiring  with  Turkish  and  other 
chieftains,  and  meditating  that  great  coup  d'etat,  which  put  his 
master  at  his  mercy  and  seated  himself  firmly  on  the  Celestial 

•  The  Sui  dynasty  ruled  in  China  from  589-619  a.d.  They  came  to 
power  at  the  close  of  a  long  period  of  division,  the  Empire  having  been 
previously  divided  into  many  small  kingdoms,  with  Chinese  rulers 
south  of  the  Yangfcse,  and  Tartar  or  Turkish  chieftains  in  the  northern 
districts.  Such  were  the  Wei  (Tartars),  the  Hsia  (Hun),  the  Northern 
Yen  (Tartar),  the  Western  Liang  (Turkish),  and  the  Western  Tsin 
(Thibetan).  These  smaller  kingdoms  are  of  great  importance  in  the 
History  of  Buddhism,  for  it  was  in  them  rather  than  in  China  proper 
that  Buddhism  flourished  before  the  Tang  period.  The  Sui  family  had 
but  two  Sovereigns — Wenti  (589-606),  who  united  China  and  carried  the 
Chinese  name  far  among  the  Turks  in  the  North  and  East ;  and  Yangti 
(605-617),  a  man  of  violent  temper,  prone  to  debauchery  and  extrava- 
gance, who  brought  the  Empire  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  He  was  overthrown 
by  Li-yiian  of  the  Tang  family,  who  ascended  the  throne  in  a.d.  618,  as 
Kaotsn. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   209 

Throne,  as  the  founder  of  a  Dynasty,  the  most  magnificent  China 
had  ever  yet  seen,  and  which  was  to  continue  for  well-nigh  three 
centuries.^  The  miseries  of  the  people,  heavily  biirdened  and 
harassed  to  support  the  luxurious  and  ostentatious  extravagance 
of  the  Sui  monarchs,  tended  to  encourage  his  hopes,  and  with  the 
practised  eye  of  the  statesman  he  could  see  that  it  only  needed  a 
strong  man  at'  the  hehn  to  make  China  a  world-power  with  very 
widely  extending  influence.  For  the  inland  states  on  the  Western 
frontiers  were  already  looking  to  China  for  aid  against  the  terror 
of  the  Arab,  shortly  to  be  kindled  to  victory  by  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  new  faith  inspired  by  Mahomet,  and  only  a  few  years  were 
destined  to  elapse  before  Persia,  at  war  with  Constantinople,  and 
overrun  by  the  Arabs,  should  come  to  China  in  the  vain  hopes 
of  an  alliance  against  the  new  foe.'  To  give  another  note  of  time, 
Shotoku  Taishi,^  the  greatest  of  Japan's  early  statesmen,  and  as 

*  It  will  be  well  to  remember  that  under  the  earlier  Tang  Emperors, 
Chinese  Viceroyalties  extended  as  far  as  the  frontiers'  of  the  Persian 
Empire,  and  that  even  monarchs  like  Siladitya  Harsha  of  Kanauj 
acknowledged  Chinese  influence.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that 
Kaotsu  suppressed  Buddhist  monasteries,  sending  100,000  bonzes  and 
nuns  about  their  business,  being  stimulated  thereto  by  petitions  from 
Chinese  literati.  Buddhism  had  many  enemies  :  e.g.  in  India,  where 
Harsha's  predecessor  had  likewise  (in  601)  dissolved  the  Buddhist 
monasteries,  and  even  uprooted  the  famous  Bodhi-tree.  V.  A.  Smith, 
"  Early  History  of  India." 

'^  It  wiU  be  well  to  keep  a  few  dates  in  mind.  The  first  Persian 
Temple  (whether  Zoroastrian  or  Manichsean  is  not  quite  clear)  was 
erected  at  Singanfu,  in  621,  three  years  after  Kaotsu's  accession.  The 
Persian  Empire,  under  Chosroes  II.,  was  at  the  time  at  war  with  Rome 
(or  rather  Constantinople),  a  Persian  army  was  on  the  Bosphorus. 
This  war  was  a  great  strain  on  the  Persian  dominions,  and  there  were 
other  causes  for  anxiety.  Mahomet,  born  570,  had  announced  himself 
as  a  prophet  in  610,  and  the  Hejira,  from  which  aU  Mahometans  date 
their  years,  took  place  in  622.  Siladitya  Harsha,  whose  Indian  Empire 
extended  over  the  whole  basin  of  the  Ganges,  and  who  began  as  a  war- 
like monarch,  came  to  the  throne  a.d.  606.  He,  too,  received  an 
Embassy  from  the  Persians,  which  he  housed  in  a  monastery  near 
Multan,  and  massacred  after  entertaining  them  liberally.  This  must 
have  been  before  his  conversion  to  Buddhism,  which  seems  to  have  been 
about  645  (V.  A.  Smith, "  Early  History  of  India  ").  The  Persians  were 
evidently  looking  everywhere  for  helpful  allies. 

'  Shotoku  Taishi's  political  activity  may  be  said  to  have  begtm  with 

P 


210    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

great  in  the  religious  world  as  he  was  in  the  political,  was  already 
busy  with  his  celebrated  reforms.  The  Constitution  of  the  17 
Articles  had  already  been  in  force  some  ten  years  when  Zendo  was 
bom ;  the  ruler  of  Japan  had  already  given  offence  to  the  vain- 
glorious Sovereign  of  the  Sui  by  the  letter  in  which  the  •'  Eastern 
Emperor  "  sent  his  greeting,  as  an  equal  in  rank,  to  his  brother  the 
"Emperor  of  the  West,"  and  Korea,  which  had  already  done  so 
much  for  Japan  in  the  way  of  religious  and  civihzing  influences, 
was  giving  Japanese  statesmen  a  good  deal  of  political  anxiety.^ 

In  matters  of  religion,  Confucianists  and  Taoists  were  apparently 
going  on  much  as  usual ;  but  the  Buddhist  world,  distracted  partly 
by  the  immense  volume  and  bulk  of  its  own  religious  books,  and 
partly  by  the  multiplicity  of  the  new  ideas  which  the  growing 
commercial  activity  of  the  people  was  importing  from  foreign 
countries,  was  in  a  state  of  apparently  fermenting  chaos.^  Bod- 
hidharma's  attempts  at  reform  (a.d.  620)  ^  were  already  a  century 
old,  and  his  way  had  already  lost  some  of  its  prestige  :  new  sects, 

the  battle  of  Shikisen  in  587,  when  the  Shinto  supporters  were  crushed. 
He  became  Crown  Prince  in  593,  proclaimed  Buddhism  in  595,  pro- 
mulgated his  Constitution  of  17  Articles  in  604,  sent  his  celebrated 
letter  to  the  *'  Emperor  of  the  West "  (Yangti  of  Sui)  in  609,  and  died 
in  621.  With  him  may  be  said  to  end  the  Korean  period  of  Japanese 
Buddhism. 

*  Korea,  divided  into  several  small  states,  was  fluctuating  in  alle- 
giance between  China  and  Japan.  Yangti  of  Sui  sent  an  expedition'  to 
Korea  (a.d.  615),  and  Shotoku  was  much  concerned  to  preserve  Japanese 
influence  in  the  peninsula. 

*  With  a  few  exceptions,  the  early  books  translated  by  the  Buddhist 
missionaries  of  the  Han  period  (ended  a.d.  220)  and  of  the  era  of  con- 
fusion which  followed,  were  so  badly  done  as  to  be  practically  im- 
intelligible.  Kumarajiva,  a  native  of  Karachar,  with  apparently  both 
Chinese  and  Indian  blood  in  his  veins,  arrived  at  Changan  in  a.d.  406, 
and  inaugiurated  a  new  era  of  translation.  Amongst  the  books  of  which 
he  provided  fresh  translations  were  the  Sukhavati  Vyuhas  and  the 
Hokekyo.  Kum.  therefore  marks  a  new  period  in  the  history  of  the 
Chinese  Buddhism. 

*  Not  even  with  Kumarajiva's  efforts  could  Buddhism  in  China  be 
brought  into  a  satisfactory  condition.  Bodhidharma's  efforts  were 
devoted  to  introducing  a  form  of  Buddhism  which  should  not  depend 
upon  books,  but  teach  men  by  contemplation  to  get  straight  to  the 
Heart  of  Buddha. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   211 

e.g.  the  Sanron,  Jojitsu,  and  Tendai,  were  already  in  process  of 
formation,  if  not  actually  formed,  and  Hiouen  Thsang  had  already 
(a.d.  611)  entered  the  order  of  monks, *  and  was  now  preparing  for 
the  celebrated  journey  to  India  for  the  purpose  of  studying  at  first 
hand  the  doctrines  of  his  faith. 

Some  reform  was  certainly  needed.  In  the  year  618,  the  Duke 
of  Tang  deposed  his  master,  and  took  his  seat  on  the  Imperial 
throne  as  Kaotsu,  the  Fotmder  of  the  Tang  dynasty.  One  of  the 
most  striking  incidents  of  his  reign  was  the  presentation  of  a  peti- 
tion to  the  throne  against  Buddhism.  It  was  presented  by  leading 
men  among  the  literati  and  Confucianists,  and  was  strongly  worded.^ 
Kaotsu  accepted  the  petition  and  acted  upon  it,  He  ordered  a 
general  dissolution  and  suppression  of  Buddhist  monasteries,  and 
sent  100,000  monks  and  nuns  back  into  lay  life.  It  was  probably 
a  necessary  measure.  The  monks  were  very  numerous  and  very 
powerful,  and  they  claimed  exemption  from  State  control.  Abuses 
of  many  kinds  are  apt  to  spring  up  in  institutions  the  members  of 
which  claim  not  to  be  placed  on  the  same  footing  with  ordinary 
citizens. 

Zendo  entered  the  Buddhist  order  at  a  very  early  age.  I 
cannot  find  whether  it  was  before  or  after  the  suppression  of  the 
monasteries  by  Kaotsu;  but  it  was  most  probably  before  that 
event,  and  his  teacher  was  a  certain  Shosho  (§Q  ^)  of  Missha 
(^  iHI),  a  prominent  person  in  the  then  newly-formed  Sanron  sect. 
This  sect,  which  is  also  called  the  Ichi-dai-Jcydshu,  or  "  Sect  of 
the  Teachings  of  Buddha's  whole  life,"  made  it  a  feature  of  its 
teachings  that  it  professed  to  accept  every  one  of  the  many  thou- 
sand volvunes  of  the  Mahayana  Canon  as  of  equal  authority,  with- 
out assigning  to  any  single  one  a  pre-euunent  place  among  its 
compeers.     It  aimed  at  the  most  complete  and  glorious  compre- 

'  Hiouen  Thsang,  bom  a.d.  602,  enters  the  Order  622,  about  the 
time  of  Kaotsu's  edict  against  the  monasteries ;  unable  to  satisfy  his 
mind,  starts  fori  India,  629,  meets  Silabhadra  in  India  and  enters  the 
Nalanda  monastery  in  638,  returns  to  China  645.  The  Emperor  Teit- 
sung  (Writes  a  preface  for  his  translation  in  648.  Hiouen  Thsang  is 
regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  Hosso  sect,  and  it  shows  how  close  was 
the  connection  between  Japan  and  China  that  the  same  sect  appears  in 
Japan  653,  having  been  brought  over  by  Dosho,  a  student  under  Hiouen 
Thsang.  It  is  noteworthy  that  H.  T.  did  not  bring  Amidaism  of  the 
Zendo  type  back  from  India.     Perhaps  he  did  not  find  it  there. 

'  Ka^ufier,  "  Geschichte  Ostasiens,"  vol.  ii.  p.  659. 


212         THE  CREED   OF   HALF   JAPAN 

hensiveness  (a  comprehensiveness,  which,  I  fear,  can  only  be 
attained  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  critical  faculty).  Zendo's  Buddhist 
biographer  ^  adds  that  he  also  studied  the  Vinaya  discipline  (a  fact 
which  naay  be  taken  as  showing  traces  of  a  somewhat  practical  turn 
of  mind),  and  notices  further  that,  during  these  student  days,  he 
was  continually  restless,  that  he  sighed  for  greater  definiteness, 
and  expressed  a  longing  for  that  simpler  doctrine  of  Salvation 
by  Faith  in  Amida,  which  has  always  had  its  exponents  in  China 
as  well  as  in  Japan. 

At  last,  weary  of  the  confusion,  he  went  into  the  library, 
prayed  for  guidance,  closed  his  eyes,  and  put  out  his  hand  for  the 
book  which  was  to  simplify  his  Creed.  The  same  story  is  told  of 
others  in  Chinese  Buddhism :  in  Zendo's  case,  his  hand  fell  upon 
the  volume  of  the  Kwangyo  (the  Amitayurdhyani  Sutra), ^  which 
relates  how  S'akyamuni  comforted  Queen  Vaidehi  in  her  distress 

»  Tada,  "  Shoshingekowa,"  p.  347. 

*  The  Kwangyo,  which  is  the  second  longest  of  the  three  Jodo  books, 
was  not  translated  into  Chinese  until  a.d.  424,  its  translator  being  Kala- 
yasas,  a  contemporary  of  Kumarajiva.  The  Larger  Sukhavati  Vyuha  was 
translated  as  early  as  a.d.  147,  by  Anshikao  and  also  by  one  of  his  com- 
panions, there  being  two  later  translations,  one  in  252  by  Sanghavarman, 
and  one  of  the  Smaller  Sukh.  Vy.  by  Kumarajiva  about  420.  This 
would  seem  to  point  to  the  fact  that  Eon's  teaching  must  have  been 
based  entirely  on  the  earlier  translations  of  the  Larger  Sukhavati 
Vyuha,  if,  indeed,  it  was  based  on  the  present  Amida  books  at  all. 
Eon's  spiritual  father  was  Doan  (d.  390),  a  native  of  Ch'angshan  in 
Chekiang,  who  moved  to  Joyo  (Ji  |^),  where  he  was  besieged  and 
taken  prisoner  by  a  king  named  Fu  Ken  (^  5s),  who  ruled  over 
one  of  the  Central  Asian  principalities.  During  Doan's  lifetime,  the 
Tsin  Emperor  Hiao-wu-ti  was  converted  to  Buddhism,  chiefly  owing 

Tangut  influences.  Doan  professed  to  have  the  aid  of  Pindola 
(Jap.  Bindzuru),  and  was  devoted  to  all  the  Buddhas,  though  perhaps 
especially  to  Amida,  as  may  be  inferred  from  his  nickname  Miten 
no  Doan,  '*  Doan  of  Mida's  Heaven."  Eon,  who  followed  him,  seems 
to  have  been  entirely  devoted  to  Amida,  as  was  also  the  Society 
which  he  founded,  and  which,  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose,  was 
Manichsean.  In  the  lifetime  of  Eon  and  Doan  began  the  streams  of 
Chinese  pilgrims  to  India,  Fabian  being  the  first.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  none  of  these  pilgrims  seem  to  have  brought  back  anything  definite 
about  Amida  from  India.  This  is  especially  noticeable  in  the  case 
of  Hiouen  Thsang,  and  it  seems  to  point  to  the  Central  Asian  origin  of 
the  Amida  cult. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   213 

by  reminding  her  of  the  mercies  of  Amitabha,  "  who  is  ever  near 
thee."  Zendo  read  and  received  comfort ;  but  he  could  not  under- 
stand all  he  read,  and  where  he  was  there  was  none  to  explain  it. 

But  he  heard  that,  south  of  the  Yangtze,  at  Eozan  (^  jl]), 
there  were  traditions  and  books  which  might  explain  what  he 
wanted.  It  was  here  that  Eon  (^  ^),  who  died  a.d.  416,  had 
worked  for  thirty  years,  and  had  founded,  in  connection  with  a 
body  of  friends  known  as  the  "  eighteen  sages  of  Eozan,"  a  guild 
known  as  the  White  Lotus  Society,  which  was  the  first  association 
of  Buddhist  monks  and  laymen  for  the  joint  adoration  of  Amida 
Butsu.  Zendo  learned  all  that  he  could  at  Eozan,  and  then  recom- 
menced his  travels,  consulting  as  many  religious  teachers  as  he 
found  likely  to  be  able  to  give  him  helpful  advice  and  coimsel. 
What  he  learned  from  these  teachers  induced  him  to  adopt  a  rule 
of  life,  known  as  han  shu  sammai  (^  ;n}*  ^  1^),  which  reads 
almost  like  the  stern  rule  of  some  Christian  ascetic,  stUl  more  so, 
perhaps,  of  that  of  some  Manichaean  fanatic.  Mi  tsune  ni  butsu 
wo  raiahi,  kuchi  tsune  ni  butsu  wo  tonae,  IcoTcoro  tsune  ni  butsu 
wo  omou.  "  His  body  ceaselessly  engaged  in  the  worship  of 
Buddha,  his  mouth  ceaselessly  engaged  in  the  recital  of  Buddha's 
praises,  his  heart  ceaselessly  meditating  Buddha."  With  this  in 
mind  he  retired  to  the  Temple  of  Goshinji  {^  -^  ■^)  in  Shimnan, 
where,  amidst  beautiful  mountain  scenery,  and  in  the  solitude  of 
retirement,  he  "  beat  out  his  music."  It  is  quite  evident  that  thig 
retirement,  which  lasted  for  some  years,  was  of  great  value  in  the 
formation  of  his  religious  ideas.  The  name  of  the  temple  signifies, 
not  inaptly,  the  *'  Temple  for  the  Instruction  of  Truth."  He  re- 
mained here  until  his  29th  year,  returning  to  Singanfu  in  the  year 
A.D.  643.1 

*  It  is  said  of  Eon  that  he  was  so  strict  in  his  observance  of  Bud- 
hist  discipline  that  when,  on  his  deathbed,  he  was  ordered  to  take 
honey,  he  first  set  his  pupils  to  find  out  whether  the  Buddhist  rule  per- 
mitted it.  While  they  were  still  examining,  he  died.  Once  he  broke 
his  rule  of  retirement  by  mistake,  being  so  engrossed  in  conversation 
that  he  inadvertently  went  outside  the  bounds  of  his  hermitage.  This 
is  a  favourite  theme  for  artists.  We  may  here  mention  another  theme, . 
frequently  found  in  Buddhist  pictures,  which  may  be  called  the 
"  Narrow  Way."  A  pilgrim,  pursued  by  wild  beasts,  demons,  and  evil 
spirits,  arrives  at  the  edge  of  a  precipice.  In  front  of  him  are  two 
lakes,  the  one  of  water,  filled  with  sharks  and  other  monsters  of  the 
deep,  the  other  of  fire  and  peopled  with  devils.    Between  the  two  is 


214         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

His  stay,  however,  was  for  a  short  time  only.  Ever  since  his 
first  conversion  to  Amidaism  in  the  library,  he  had  evidently  been 
searching  for  any  traces  he  could  find  of  Amida  followers  in  China. 
He  had  been  to  Bozan  to  examine  Eon's  literary  remains  and  to 
get  into  touch  with  the  White  Lotus  Society.  "We  may  presume 
that  the  Goshinji  to  which  he  retired  was  a  place  at  which  he 
would  find  persons  in  sympathy  with  his  religious  sentiments. 
Now  he  heard  that  Doshaku  (^  ^^),  the  monk  who  is  reckoned  as 
Zendo's  predecessor  in  the  list  of  Shinshu  patriarchs,  was  teaching 
in  the  district  of  Shinyo  (^  |^,  Chinyang  in  Kiangsi),  and  he  set 
off  at  once  to  visit  the  aged  man. 

Doshaku,  who  is  reckoned  by  the  Jodo  Buddhist  as  the  fourth 
patriarch  of  the  Amida  Doctrines,  and  therefore  as  Zendo's  im- 
mediate predecessor,  was  bom  in  Heishu  (^  *m)  in  the  year 
A.D.  653,  and  died  in  636.  He  had  experienced  the  persecution 
which  the  Buddhists  had  imdergone  during  the  reign  of  Wu-ti  of 
the  Chow  (^)  Dynasty, 1  and  he  was  one  of  the  few  brave  ones 
who  remained  faithful  in  spite  of  the  violence  of  the  storm.  His 
predecessor,  the  third  patriarch,  Donran,*  had  taught  with  con- 

a  very  narrow  strip  of  precipitous  rock,  necessitating  the  wariest  of 
walking,  the  first  false  step  meaning  instant  destruction  on  the  one 
side  or  the  other.  It  is  dark ;  but  on  thei  other  side  of  the  narrow 
pathway  stands  Amida,  who  has  accomplished  salvation.  A  ray  of 
light  issues  from  him,  and  the  legend  above  him  is  Namu  Amida 
Butsu,  which  Zendo  taught  men  to  translate  "  Trust  ME,  for  I  will 
save  you " — the  meaning  of  the  word  Jesus,  but  not  that  of  the 
Buddhist  legend. 

*  The  Chow  [circ.  560)  were  a  northern  Kingdom,  a  rival,  of  the  Wei, 
whose  territories  and  powers  they  gradually  usurped. 

*  Donran  died  in  533.  Like  aU  the  Amidaists,  he  was  not  a  pure 
Chinaman,  but  a  subject  of  one  of  the  small  northern  kingdoms.  Wu-ti, 
of  the  Liang,  circ.  a.d.  528,  was  a  great  admirer  of  Donran's.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  shortly  after  Donran's  death,  within  the  life- 
time both  of  Doshaku  and  Zendo,  an  attempt  was  made  (the  forerunner 
of  the  Ryobu  Shinto  in  Japan)  to  amalgamate  Buddhism  with  Taoism). 
I  quote  it  to  show  that  this  was  an  age  of  sjrncretio  aspirations.  Donran 
may  almost  have  been  a  contemporary  of  Vasubhandhu.  Some  trace 
of  the  tendency  to  make  common  cause  with  Taoism  may  be  perhaps 
found  in  the  syllable  Do  (ja)  in  the  assumed  names  of  Doan,  or  Doshaku. 
Donran  was  certainly  a  Taoist  before  becoming  a  Buddhist.  The  Do  in 
Zendo's  name  is  slightly  different  (^),  as  though  to  emphasize  some 
new  principle  that  had  come  into  his  teaching. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    215 

siderable  effect  in  the  district  in  which  DSshaka  was  bom,  and 
though  he  had  been  dead  twenty  years  when  Doshakn  came  into 
the  world,  his  influence  was  still  felt  in  the  neighbourhood.  It 
was  kneeling  before  the  stone  pillar  erected  to  Donran's  memory 
that  Doshaku  made  his  vow  to  propagate  the  Doctrine  of  Salvation 
by  Faith  in  Amida.  Doshaku  was  forty-eight  years  of  age  when 
he  thus  enrolled  himself  as  a  posthumous  pupil  of  Donran's ;  but 
he  is  said  to  have  developed  the  doctrine  beyond  what  Donran 
had  dona.  Donran  had  been  drawn  by  the  hope  of  eternal  life, 
and  it  was  this  hope,  set  before  him  by  the  Indian  monk  Bodhiruci, 
that  had  made  him  bum  his  Taoist  books  of  magic  and  set  himself 
to  the  study  of  Amidaism.  In  Doshaku's  hands  the  Amida  doctrine 
had  developed  in  the  direction  of  personality.  He  taught  (if  we 
may  believe  his  latest  biographer,  Mr.  Tada)  ^  that  Amida  miist 
be  considered  to  be  a  personal  Being  and  not  a  mere  abstract 
ideal,  and  the  book  which  he  placed  in  Zendo's  hands  was  the 
Larger  Sukhavati  Vyuha,  the  book  which  gives  the  account  of 
Amida's  life,  of  His  Incarnation  in  the  person  of  Hozo  Biku,  His 
labours  undertaken  for  the  Salvation  of  men,  the  successful 
accomplishment  of  His  Great  Vow,  and  His  return  to  glory  as 
King  of  His  Western  Paradise.  This  doctrine  Zendo  accepted  and 
preached.  He  may  be  said  to  have  carried  the  doctrine  a  stage 
further.  The  followers  of  HSnen  Shonin  (otherwise  known  as 
Genku)  form  three  communities :  (i)  the  Shinshu,  founded  by 
Shinran,  and  (ii  and  iii)  the  two  sub-sects  of  the  older  Jodo  sect, 
the  Chinsei-ha  and  the  Seizan-ha.*  The  Chinsei-ha,  agreeing  in 
this  respect  with  the  Shinshu,  differ  from  the  Seizan-ha  in  the 
matter  of  reciting  the  Nembutsu.  The  latter  community  treat 
the  Nembufcsu  as  an  act  of  adoration  addressed  to  all  the  Buddhas  ; 
the  Chinsei-ha  and  Shinshu  treat  it  as  addressed  to  Amida  alone, 
as  being  the  only  Buddha,  and  the  one  to  whom  everything  else 
is  subordinate  and  subservient;  and  this  practice,  according  to 
Murakami,^  is  due  to  the  teachings  of  Zendo.  To  Zendo,  there- 
fore, the  doctrine  of  faith  became  a  doctrine  involving  a  belief  in 
a  single  Being,  without  beginning  of  days  or  end  of  life,  unbounded 

1  Tada,  "  ShosMngo  Kowa,"  p.  349. 

*  This  13  Mr.  Murakami's  division  in  Bukkyo  Hyakkwa  Hoten.  Bub 
there  are  other  disciples  of  Zendo  in  Japan,  who  do  not  trace  their 
descent  through  Qenkii  and  Shinran,  notably  the  Yndzunembutsu  and 
Ji  sects,  concerning  whom  a  note  will  be  given  later  on  in  this  chapter. 

'  Murakami,  "  Bukkyo  Hyakkwa  Hoten,"  p.  493. 


2i6         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

in  every  respeet,  who,  for  man's  salvation,  had  become  a  man, 
had  accomplished  a  scheme  of  salvation,  and  had  returned  to  his 
original  glory. 

Zendo's  biographers  relate  how,  when  the  patriarch  was  on  the 
way  to  visit  Doshaku,  his  road  lay  through  forests  and  mountains, 
so  rough  and  impassable  that,  at  last,  worn  out  with  fatigue,  he 
had  to  lie  down  to  rest  in  a  cave.  He  was  fainting  with  hunger 
and  weariness,  and  it  was  two  days  before  he  could  raise  himself. 
Then  it  seemed  to  him  that  a  voice  sounded  in  his  ears  :  "  Pull 
yourself  together,  and  struggle  on  :  your  difficulties  will  disappear." 
We  may  perhaps  inquire  what  these  difficulties  were  and  how 
they  disappeared. 

Doshaku  is  said  to  have  died  in  the  year  a.d.  637.  The  date 
cannot  be  implicitly  trusted,  for  it  is  also  said  that  Zendo  was 
twenty-nine  years  old  when  he  visited  Doshaku  and  accepted 
Amidaism,  an  impossible  age,  if  Zendo  was  bom  in  a.d.  614.  The 
explanation  probably  will  be  found  in  another  statement  to  the 
effect  that  Doshaku  died  five  years  after  the  visit  of  Zendo,  That 
would  make  Zendo  twenty-three  years  old  when  he  visited 
Doshaku,  and  we  may  easily  believe  that  the  conversion  to 
Amidaism,  as  he  came  to  learn  it,  may  have  been  a  slow  process, 
not  fully  accomplished  for  several  years.  But,  whichever  way  we 
look  at  it,  the  conversion  of  Zendo  to  the  full  faith  in  Amida  must 
have  taken  place  about  the  year  a.d.  636  (if  anything  a  little  later 
than  that  year),  and  in,  or  near,  the  capital  city  of  Singanfu. 
From  that  date,  and  in  that  city,  he  began  his  preaching  activity. 

China  under  the  Tang  dynasty  had  many  dealings  with  Central 
Asia.  The  ruling  family,  as  dukes  of  the  dependent  principality 
of  Tang,  had  been  much  mixed  up  with  Tartar  and  Turkish  tribes, 
and  it  was  apparently  by  their  help  that  the  family  had  been 
seated  on  the  throne  of  China.  From  the  moment,  therefore, 
that  the  Dynasty  was  established,  the  new  Empire  became  the 
cynosure  of  Central  Asian  eyes.^  A  Persian  mission  was  sent  by 
Chosroes  II.  praying  for  an  alliance,  and  in  621  the  first  Zoroastrian 
temple  was  erected  in  Singanfu.  The  leader  of  this  mission  seems 
to  have  been  a  Magian  of  the  name  of  Holu  ("  le  fils  du  feu,"  as 
P.  Gaubil  calls  him),  who  was  very  active  in  stirring  up  China 
against  the  Mahometans.  Of  Manichseans  in  China  proper  there 
seems  to  be  no  mention  for  many  years  to  come,^  but  in  636, 

»  P.  Gaubil,  *'  M6m.  des  Chinois,"  vol.  xv.  p.  399, 

*  Ace.  to  the  authors  of  Mem.  Cone.  la.  Chine  (see  xvi.  227,  also 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    217 

almost  synchronizing  with  the  commencement  of  Zendo's  preach- 
ing activity,  arrived  the  Nestorian  mission  under  Olopen,  which 
has  left  behind  it  an  enduring  memorial  in  stone.  Is  it  possible 
that  the  "  difficulties  "  with  which  Zendo  was  troubled,  when  he 
lay  wearied  in  the  cave  on  his  way  to  Doshaku,  were  diffictdties 
connected  with  the  relations  between  the  Buddhist  Faith  and  the 
Faith  which  the  Nestorians  preached  ? 

We  can  trace  the  development  of  Zendo's  thought.  Confused 
by  the  multiplexity  of  the  popular  Buddhism  of  his  day,  he  turns 
to  the  scripture  in  which  S'akyamuni  is  represented  as  comforting 

KaeufEer,  ii.  663)  the  first  mention  of  Mani  or  Manichaean  monks 
among  the  Tartar  tribes  occurs  in  786.  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend 
Mr.  S.  Tachibana  for  the  following  data  concerning  the  Manichseans, 
which  somewhat  modify  these  statements.  In  the  fifth  year  of  the 
Jokwan  (Chih  Kwan)  period  of  the  Tang  dynasty,  i.e.  a.d.  632,  a  Mani- 
chsean  named  Boku-go-ka-roku  obtained  from  the  Emperor  Taitsung 
permission  to  erect  a  Tatsin  Temple  (Jap.  Taishinji)  at  Singanfu. 
Tatsin  was  a  generic  name  for  Persia  and  Syria,  and  the  name  Taishinji 
was  at  first  applied  indifferently  to  all  temples,  Christian,  Manichaean, 
or  Zoroastrian,  devoted  to  the  propagation  of  faiths  coming  from  those 
regions.  In  734,  the  Emperor  Hiiian  Tsung  ordered  the  destruction  of  all 
Manichaean  Temples  (probably  of  all  Tatsin  Temples),  and  forbade  the 
promulgation  of  Manichseanism.  In  746,  the  same  emperor  removed  the 
prohibition  and  ordered  that  all  temples  belonging  to  religions  of  Persian 
nationality  should  be  called  Taishinji,  whether  in  the  two  capitals  or  in 
the  neighbouring  country  districts.  In  the  third  year  of  Daireki  (Chin. 
Ta-lai),i.e.  768,  Taitsung' authorized  Persian  subjects  to  erect  Dai  TJn  Kd- 
myoji  (^  ^  ^fe  ^  T^  )>  evidently  as  something  distinct  from  the  Tai- 
hinji,  also  as  distinct  from  Buddhism.  Again,  in  the  third  year  of  the 
Emperor  Wutsung,  a.d.  843,  all  Manichaean  Temples  were  closed  and 
many  of  their  priests,  nuns,  and  laity  put  to  death  or  sent  into  exile. 
In  the  meantime  the  Komyo  doctrine  had  reached  Japan.  It  had 
been  brought  to  China  in  the  reign  of  the  Empress  Wu,  in  the  first 
year  of  Yen  Tsai,  in  694  by  a  Persian  of  the  name  of  Pu-ta-tan 
("i*  :^  W^)'  '^^^  Empress  Jito  was  then  on  the  throne.  She  was  a 
zealous  Buddhist.  In  the  year  692,  she  received  from  the  Chinese 
Ambassador  a  statue  of  Amida,  and  copies  of  a  Sutra  called  Kon  Komyo 
Kyd,  which  she  caused  to  be  preached  throughout  her  empire.  It 
is  difficult  not  to  connect  this  with  the  Faith  that  Zendo  had  preached. 
(Mr.  Tachibana  quotes  from  Bussotoki,  fasc.  39-42.  See  also  Haas, 
"  Annalen  des  Japanischen  Buddhismus,"  p.  318,  and  D^veria,  Journal 
Asiatiquc,  ix.-x.  p.  445). 


2i8    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Vaidehi  with  the  proximity  and  tender  watchfulness  of  Amida. 
Then  he  goes  south  of  Rozan,  to  the  remnants  of  Eon  and  his 
White  Lotus  Guild,  after  which,  in  the  solitude  of  the  GoshLnji 
Temple,  he  works  out  his  problem.  In  the  meantime  he  hears  of 
Christianity  (by  no  means  an  impossibility  if  we  remember  the 
story  of  the  introduction  of  silkworms  into  Europe  a  century 
before).  What  is  he  to  do  or  say  ?  He  goes  to  Doshaku  to  resolve 
his  doubts,  and  Doshaku  tells  him  of  "  Eternal  Life,"  and  gives 
him  the  Sukhavati  Vyuha,  which  tells  of  Amida  as  a  Person  who 
came  down  upon  Earth,  who  opened  the  door  of  salvation,  and 
has  gone  to  the  place  He  has  prepared  for  us.* 

*  I  would  like  to  call  attention  to  an  excellent  article  entitled  the 
•'  Mystery  of  Fulin,"  by  Dr.  Hirth,  of  Columbia,  which  has  just 
appeared  in  vol.  xxx.,  part  1,  of  the  Journal  of  the  Am.  Oriental 
Society.  Dr.  Hirth  has  long  maintained  (and  gives  reasons  for  so 
doing)  that  this  embassy  came  from  the  Patriarch  of  Antioch  as  head 
of  the  Nestorian  Church.  There  is  also  a  great  deal  of  information  in 
Mrs.  Gordon's  recent  work  on  the  Messiah,  a  book  which,  despite  its 
superabundant  mysticism,  is  full  of  valuable  information  and  most 
suggestive  in  the  many  hints  and  indications  it  gives  for  further  in- 
vestigation and  research.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  Olopen  and 
his  missionaries  emphasize  the  fact  that  they  come,  not  from  the  King 
of  Persia  or  any  political  power,  but  from  the  Patriarch  of  Antioch,  a 
purely  spiritual  personage  with  no  political  influence  at  all.  Perhaps 
they  did  this  on  purpose  to  avoid  being  mixed  up  with  Manichaeans 
and  Zoroastrians,  who  were  more  closely  connected  with  the  Persian 
State.  Dr.  Grierson,  in  his  article  on  Bhakti-marga,  in  vol.  ii.  of 
Hasting's  "  Encycloppedia  of  Religions,"  shows  us  the  same  Olopen, 
three  years  later,  in  India,  at  the  Court  of  Siladitya  Harsha,  where  he 
is  well  received.  This  will  show  us  how  Nestorianism  was  at  work, 
quietly  and  unobtrusively,  in  India  as  in  China.  We  know  that  there 
were  Christians  in  China  before  Olopen,  for  the  Emperor  Justinian 
(527-565)  received  a  present  of  silkworms  brought  to  him  by  monks 
who  had  been  living  for  some  years  either  in  Singanfu  or  in  Nanking, 
These  missionaries  can  scarcely  have  been  Nestorians,  seeing  that 
Justinian  had  a  great  dislike  to  that  body  of  Christians.  On  the 
Singanfu  monument,  erected  781,  Olopen  is  described  as  Daitoku 
{■^  ^).  In  the  year  771,  the  Emperor  Taitsung  appointed  ten  Daitoku, 
men  of  recognized  virtue  and  merit.  The  erectors  of  the  monument 
would  scarcely  have  ventured  to  give  Olopen  this  title  unless  it  had 
been  (posthumously  perhaps)  conferred  on  him  by  the  Emperor  (see 
Murakami,  op.  cii.,p.  804  ;  and  E.  A.  Parker, "  Notes  on  the  Nestorians," 
J.R.A.S.,  North  China  Branch,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  297). 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    219 

After  636,  then,  we  find,  in  Singanfu,  two  men  preaching 
almost  similar  doctrines,  the  one  preaching  them  in  connection 
with  Christ,  the  other  in  connection  with  Amida.  It  is  further 
said  oF~'Zendo's  activity  that  he  was  constantly  helped  by  a 
mysterious  priest  who  came  to  visit  him  every  evening  and  helped 
him  with  his  commentaries  (see  Tada,  "  Shoshingekowa,"  p.  369). 
This  mysterious  collaborator  may  have  been  a  Christian,  and  if  so, 
the  strange  coincidences,  the  almost  Pauline  echoes,  which  are 
constantly  to  be  found  in  Zendo's  writings,  would  be  amply 
accounted  for.  Nor  is  the  supposition  a  baseless  one ;  for  we  have 
one  clear  instance  of  such  collaboration  between  a  Buddhist  and 
Nestorian  about  a  century  later,  when  the  Nestorian  priest  King 
Tsing  (or  Adam,  as  he  is  called  on  the  Singanfu  monument) 
collaborated  with  the  Indian  monk  Prajna  in  the  translation  of  a 
book  on  the  Six  Cardinal  Virtues  (SJiat  Pardmita  Sutra). ^  The 
original  was  not  in  Sanskrit,  but  in  the  Hu  (^),  i.e.  the  Persian, 
or,  more  probably,  the  Uigur  language.  At  any  rate,  not  much 
came  of  this  attempted  collaboration,  which  probably  caused 
much  jealousy  and  opposition.  It  was  after  a  while  forbidden  by 
the  Emperor  Taitsung,  who,  in  a  published  decree,  ordered  the 
Nestorian  King  Tsing  to  confine  himself  to  the  teachings  of 
Mishiho,  and  to  leave  the  followers  of  S'akyamuni  to  propagate 
the  teachings  of  their  master.* 

The  suggestion  of  opposition  raised  against  such  collaboration, 
on  the  part  of  friendly  disposed  believers  of  the  two  religions,  by 
more  strait-laced  partisans,  brings  me  to  another  point  of  contact 
between  Zendo  and  the  Nestorians.  It  is  said  (my  authority  again 
is  Mr.  Tada)  that  great  opposition  was  made  against  Zendo  for 
his  preaching.     A  butcher,  whose  customers  had  left  him  to  turn 

^  It  is  to  be  found  in  the  Buddhist  Canon.  See  Nanjo's  Catalogue, 
No.  1004. 

*  Prof.  Takakusu  called  attention  to  Prajnsl  in  his  Translation  of 
I-Tsing's  "  Becord  of  the  Buddhist  Religion,"  (Oxford,  1896).  Mishiho  is 
Messiah.  Among  the  Jews  in  Kaifongfu,  in  Honan,  are  preserved 
portions  of  the  prophets  Zechariah  and  Malachi.  A  phrase  which 
Zendo  uses  more  than  once  is  Fushi  Sogo,  "  the  turning  of  the  hearts  of 
parents  and  children  to  one  another,"  a  phrase  which  at  once  suggests 
Malachi  to  the  mind.  Zendo's  phrase  was  later  made  the  title  of  the 
well-known  Japanese  Jodo  book,  the  Fushi  Sogo.  I  am  much  indebted 
to  Dr.  Haas,  of  Heidelberg,  for  calling  my  attention  to  this  matter. 


220    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Buddhists,  tried  to  murder  the  persuasive '  monk  who  injured  his 
trade.  And  not  only  did  persons  of  low  degree  set  themselves 
against  them.  The  literati  persecuted  him  and  his  followers,  as 
did  also  the  priests  of  the  other  Buddhist  sects.  When  the 
Emperor  Kaotsung  died  in  684,  the  reins  of  the  Government  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Empress-Dowager  Wu-hu,  who  was  under 
the  influence  of  a  Buddhist  monk  named  Hwai-yi,  a  monk  of  one 
of  the  sects  opposed  to  Zendo's  teaching,  and  Hwai-yi  in  694 
caused  much  popular  discontent  among  the  lower  classes  by  burn- 
ing a  favourite  temple,  which  may  have  been  Zendo's.  For  the 
common  people  heard  Zendo  gladly,  and  it  was  his  preaching  of  a 
Gospel  to  the  poor  and  outcast  that  annoyed  the  literati  and  the 
•'  Salvation-by -knowledge  "  Schools  of  Buddhists. 

Strange  to  say,  the  Nestorians,  well  received  and  honourably 
\  treated  by  Taitsung  and  Kaotsung,  fall  into  disgrace,  and  are  per- 
secuted, as  soon  as  Kaotsung's  death  leaves  the  supreme  power 
in  the  hands  of  the  Empress-Dowager  Wu-hu,  and  her  adviser 

I  Hwai-yi.  The  persecution  of  the  Nestorians  is  instigated  by  the 
same  people  as  that  against  the  followers  of  Zendo,  and  much  the 
same  pretexts  are  alleged.  Moreover,  the  persecution  of  the  two 
bodies  goes  on  for  the  same  time,  and  relief  comes  to  them 
simultaneously.  Of  the  Nestorians  we  read  that  Huantsung 
(723-756),  succeeding  Wu-hu,  rebuilds  the  "  Temple  of  Felicity," 
as  the  Nestorian  Church  is  called,  that  Huantsung's  successor, 
Sutsung  (756-763),  coming  into  a  disordered  inheritance  recovers 
'  Singanfu  which  was  in  the  hands  of  rebels,  and  erects  "  luminous  " 
temples  in  various  parts  of  his  Empire,  and  finally  that  the 
Emperor  Taitsung   (763-780),   the    same    who    discouraged    the 

1  Tada  says  that  Zendo's  preaching  was  so  persuasive  that  many  of 
his  hearers  committed  suicide  by  burning  themselves  alive.  Mr.  Tada 
rightly  feels  called  upon  to  apologize  for  this ;  but  no  student  of  the 
Hokekyo  will  need  to  be  reminded  that  to  make  a  holocaust  of  oneself 
is  set  forth  in  the  Hokokyo  as  the  highest  form  of  grateful  adoration. 
But  the  word  "  holocaust "  is  also  a  good  Christian  expression,  spiritually 
interpreted,  and  I  venture  to  suggest  that  the  holocausts  in  Zendo's 
time  may  have  been  of  this  kind.  I  am  encouraged  to  think  this  by  the 
fact  that  in  the  short  biography  of  Zendo  which  appears  in  SMnshu 
Seikun,  the  word  nyujo  (yV  ^j  is  used  to  describe  the  occurrence. 
Nyiljo  literally  means  "  to  enter  into  the  state  of  determination,"  though 
Hepburn  in  his  Dictionary,  explains  it  as  meaning  voluntary  suicide  by 
fire.  ' 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD    221 

coUaboratiion  of  King  Tsing  and  Prajna,  not  only  celebrated! 
the  Bon  Festival  with  the  Buddhists  in  the  seventh  month,  but 
kept  Christmas  in  the  twelfth  with  the  Nestorians,  "  burning ; 
incense"  in  a  "luminous  temple"  with  the  "luminous  multi- 
tude." As  to  Zendo's  followers,  we  find  them  gathering  round  a 
teacher  named  Ekan,  not  very  long  after  the  master's  death. 
Ninety  years  after  that  event,  a  monk  named  Hosso  is  men- 
tioned as  acquiring  great  fame,  and  in  793  Shoko  makes  Uryusan 
(J^  h1  Uj)  the  headquarters  of  the  teachings  promulgated  by 
Zendo.  But  by  that  time  the  Emperor  Taitsung  was  already  dead 
(06.  780),  and  the  collaboration  between  Amidaist  and  Christian 
had  already  been  prohibited. 

When  the  Nestorian  mission  first  arrived  in  China  in  a.d.  636, 
they  procured  from  the  Emperor  Teitsung  a  decree  authorizing 
the  erection  of  a  Tatsin  {i.e.  a  Syrian)  temple.  This  name,  how- 
ever, may  have  led  to  confusion,  for  both  Zoroastrians  and  Mani- 
chaeans  might  conceivably  have  claimed  the  title  (loosely  construed), 
and  in  fact  did  so.  When  Huantsung,  soon  after  713,  rebuilds 
the  Nestorian  Church,  it  is  called  a  "  Temple  of  Felicity."  When 
Sutsung,  in  756,  recovers  Singanfu,  the  Nestorian  Churches  are 
•'  luminous  (^)  temples,"  and  this  name  has  come  to  be  identified 
with  Nestorianism  ever  since,  both  in  China  and  Japan. 

When  Zendo  died,  the  Emperor  Kaotsung  (650-683)  granted 
to  the  temple  in  which  he  resided  the  honorific  title  of  Komyoji 
( jfe  PB  ^)»  which  is  only  another  form  of  "  luminous  temple." 
The  popular  explanation  of  this  name  is  obviously  a  fanciful  one. 
Bright  rays  of  light  do  not  come  out  of  the  mouths  of  even  the 
most  eloquent  preachers  of  any  faith,  nor  do  books,  however  holy 
and  mouldy,  glow  with  a  phosphorescent  light.  Yet  that  was 
what  Shoko  is  said  to  have  seen  issuing  from  the  works  of  Zendo 
preserved  in  the  library  at  the  White  Horse  Monastery.^  Kaot- 
simg  was  an  enlightened  monarch,  and  if  he  gave  the  title  of 
Komyoji,  it  must  have  been  for  the  quality  of  the  doctrine  and  not 
by  reason  of  any  doubtful  miracle.  But  it  is  quite  probable  that 
"luminous  temple  "  and  Komyoji  may  have  been  used  as  alterna- 
tive titles  to  describe  the  Faith  in  One  Saviour  as  taught,  both  by 
the  Nestorians  and  the  children  of  Zendo,  during  the  period  of 
collaboration,  and  that  later,  when  Taitsung  ordered  the  two  to 
keep  apart,  the  name  of  Komyoji  was  taken  by  the  Buddhist  section 

^  See  Nanjo,  "  Short  History  of  the  Twelve  Buddhist  Sects,"  p,  107. 


222    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

of  the  "  movement "  as  their  own  specific  designation,  the  Mani- 
chaeans  distinguishing  their  temple  by  the  title  Dai-un-hdmyoji. 

This  view  receives  considerable  support  from  Japanese  history. 
Shotoku  Taishi,  whom  the  Shinshu  honour  as  the  first  of  their 
Zenchisliihi  or  Saints,  died  in  621,  shortly  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Tang  Dynasty.  Buddhism  was,  therefore,  in  full  swing 
in  Japan  when,  in  636,  the  Nestorian  Mission  arrived  at  Singanfu, 
and  Zendo  began  his  preaching,  and  there  were  many  Japanese 
students  being  sent  yearly  to  China  for  purposes  of  study.^  Not 
only  so,  but  there  were  many  Chinese  families  residing  in  Japan 
and  naturalized  there  {ayahito),  and  it  has  been  noticed  that  most 
of  Kotoku  Tenno's  Taikwa  Reforms  (a.d.  645-654)  were  worked  out 
for  him  by  jthese  ayahito.-  The  whole  of  the  Nara  period  was 
an  age  in  which  Japan  was  peculiarly  sensitive  to  Chinese  in- 
fluences, and  especially  to  the  influences  of  Chinese  Buddhism. 

This  influence  seems  to  have  reached  its  maximum  during  the 
reign  of  Shomu  Tenno  (724-748)  and  his  Consort  Komyo  Kogo  (the 
very  name,  a  posthmnous  one,  is  in  itself  significant).  Shomu  Tenno 
was  a  very  zealous  Buddhist.  He  founded  hospitals  and  charitable 
institutions,  and  his  Empress  distinguished  herself  by  personally 
undertaking  the  niirsing  of  lepers  ^ — a  truly  Christian  work.  Japan 
was  in  no  position  at  the  time  to  undertake  hospital  work  unaided. 
Foreign  doctors  had  to  be  employed,  and  the  industry  of  Japanese 
students  has  recently  shown  us  the  presence  in  Japan,  at  the  Court, 
of  a  Nestorian  Christian  (the  Nestorian  Christians  were  famous  all 

*  See  Haas,  op.  cit.  I  am  much  jindebted  to  this  work.  I  have 
already  shown,  in  notes  on  Hiouen  Thsang  and  the  Manichees, 
how  quickly  Japan,  at  this  particular  period,  was  moved  by  any  new 
religious  movement  in  the  capital  of  the  Tangs. 

'  See  •'  Melanges  Japonais,"  vol.  iii.  p.  287. 

*  Murakami,  op.  cit.,  pp.  145-6.  A  little  point,  worthy  of  remark, 
is  the  following.  In  639,  Olopen,  having  established  his  missionaries  at 
Singanfu,  goes  on  to  India  and  visits  the  court  of  Siladitya  Harsha,  at 
Kauauj.  Shortly  after  this,  wo  read  of  Harsha's  zeal  for  works  of 
charity,  leper  hospitals,  etc.,  institutions  which  Buddhism  had  scarcely 
known  since  the  days  of  As'oka,  but  which  have  constantly  been  a  con- 
spicuous element  in  all  Christian  work.  In  Japan,  what  I  may  call  the 
Komyo  doctrines  find  their  way  into  the  country  imder  Jito  and  Mommu 
(687-697).  Here  also  they  are  followed  by  a  period  of  enthusiasm  for 
works  of  charity  which  continues  for  a  while,  until  the  tares  spring  up 
and  choke  the  good  seed,  and  the  Tendai,  the  ancient  enemies  of  Zendo, 
get  the  upper  hand. 


BUDDHISM  DURING  THE  NARA  PERIOD   223 

over  the  East  for  their  skill  in  medicine).^  Here,  therefore,  we 
have  possibly  two  instances  of  simultaneous  collaboration,  Bud- 
dhist and  Christian  uniting  in  the  production  of  books  in  China, 
and  in  works  of  charity  in  Japan, 

In  781,  the  Singanfu  monument  is  erected,  and  shortly  before, 
or  afterwards,  the  Chinese  Emperor  finds  reason  for  prohibiting  the 
collaboration.  In  782  the  Emperor  Kwammu  comes  to  the  throne 
of  Japan.  The  Buddhists  have  been  giving  themselves  airs  for 
some  time,  and  the  ambitious  priest  Dokyo,  intriguing  with  the 
Empress  Shotoku  (765-769),  has  assumed  the  title  of  Ho  O,  or 
"  religious  emperor,"  a  kind  of  pope !  Kwammu  determines  to  put 
an  end  to  the  political  intrigues  of  the  Nara  clergy,  removes  his 
capital  to  Kyoto,  and  sends  Kobo  and  Dengyo  to  China  to  investi- 
gate religion.     They  come  back,  the  one  with  the  Shingon,  the 

^  The  following  are  the  data  known  about  the  Nestorian  doctor 
Eimitsu.  In  the  year  a.d,  739  there  arrived  from  China  a  ship-load  of 
distinguished  persons.  (1)  Kibi  Mabi,  who  had  been  studying  in  China 
since  716,  and  who  brought  back  with  him  the  art  of  embroidery,  the 
game  of  go,  the  biwa,  and  the  Katakana  alphabet.  (2)  Dosen,  the  founder 
in  Japan  of  the  Kegon  (or  Avatamsaka)  sect.  (3)  A  Brahman  priest,  Bodhi- 
sena,  from  India.  (4)  A  musician  named  Fat  Triet  (Buttetsu)  from  Cam- 
bodia ;  and  (5)  a  Nestorian  physician  of  Persian  nationality  named 
Eimitsu.  The  party  were  received  on  behalf  of  the  Government  by 
Gyogi,  at  Naniwa,  and  Gyogi  was  able  to  display  his  learning  by  con- 
versing with  the  Indian  Brahman  in  Sanskrit.  A  month  later,  a  member 
of  the  Japanese  Embassy  in  China  returned  to  Japan  with  three  Chinese 
and  another  Persian.  The  whole  party  were  taken  to  court  and  the 
Emperor  conferred  official  rank  upon  them,  especial  mention  being 
made  of  RitSho,  a  Chinaman,  and  Eimitsu.  In  736  Shomu  was  in  the 
midst  of  his  hospital  schemes,  and  Eimitsu  was  evidently  a  distinguished 
physician.  The  Japanese  must  have  been  very  different  from  what  they 
are  now  if  they  neglected  the  opportunity  of  sucking  his  brains  1  Mr. 
Tachibana,  who  has  furnished  me  with  the  materials  for  this  note, 
bases  his  information  on  an  article  by  Dr.  Takakusu  in  "  Shigakuzasshi," 
vol.  iii.  No.  7,  and  on  Dr.  Kume's  "  History  of  the  Nara  Epoch."  That 
Eimitsu  was  a  Christian  was  shown  some  time  ago  by  Mr.  Saeki.  He 
could  not  have  been  a  Manichsean,  > seeing  that  the  Manichisans  dis- 
couraged doctors. 

Gyogi  Bosatsu  was  the  spiritual  director  of  Shomu  and  his  Empress 
Komyo.  He  was  an  advocate  of  Komyo  doctrines,  very  practical,  very 
charitable.  He  was  a  syncretist,  and  first  originated  the  Eyobu  doctrine 
in  Japan,  stimulated  thereto  by  the  example  of  the  Buddhists  and 
Taoista  in  China. 


224    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

other  with  the  Tendai.  Again  it  is  significant  that  these  sects,  and 
especially  the  Tendai,  which  became  practically  the  State  religion 
of  Japan  for  many  centuries,  were  the  very  sects  which  had 
organized  the  persecution  against  Zendo,  when  he  first  began  to 
preach  his  doctrine  of  Salvation  by  Faith  in  Amida. 

But  the  light  stUl  shone,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
Tendai.  Zendo's  books  came  over  to  Japan,  Mr.  Tada  tells  us,  at 
different  times  between  796  and  858,  and  several  monks,  such  as 
Kuya  and  Eikwan,  kept  alive  the  faith  in  Amida,  invoking  His 
Name  on  Hieizan,  or  wandering,  disguised  as  travelling  priests  or 
horsedealers  {umahata),  from  province  to  province,  preaching  a 
simple  faith  to  country  peasants.^  And  finally,  the  great  Honen 
(GenkS),  breaking  with  the  Tendai,  as  so  many  others  had  done, 
in  order  to  return  to  the  teaching  of  Zendo,  founds  at  Kurodani 
a  temple,  still  known  as  Konkai  Komydji,  "  the  Illustrious  Temple 
of  the  Golden  Precept,"  which  is  to  this  day.  one  of  the  chief  seats 
of  the  Chinsei  sub-division  of  the  Jodo  sect.  And  it  is  this  Chinsei- 
ha  which  preserves  Zendo's  rule  of  making  the  Nembutsu  an 
invocation  of  the  Great  Amida  alone,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  the 
rest. 

•  It  is  said  of  Zendo  that  he  and  his  disciples  were  much  given  to 
itinerant  preaching.  So  were  the  Nestorians.  The  Greek  merchant 
Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  who  was  in  India  a.d,  535,  mentions  a  Nestorian 
order  of  itinerant  preachers  named  Periodeutae,  or  wanderers,  who  were 
busy  in  his  days  evangelizing  in  N,  W.  India.  Olopen  himself  may 
have  been  one ;  we  find  him  in  China  and  then  in  India.  It  is  possible 
that  Kuya  and  Eikwan  imay  have  been  itinerant  preachers  after  this 
type,  having  learned  the  value  of  it  from  Zendo.  So  also  may  have 
been  the  mysterious  personage  who,  in  1095,  appeared  to  Ryonin,  the 
founder  of  the  Yudzunembutsu,  and  told  him  of  the  "  One  man  that 
stood  for  all  men,  and  the  one  religious  act  that  embraced  all  others." 
Ippen  (1239-1289),  the  founder  of  the  Ji  Sect,  wandered  in  his  alle- 
giance from  the  Tendai  to  the  Seizanha  of  the  Jodo,  and  finally  founded 
a  sect  of  his  own.  He  was  a  great  student  of  Zendo,  both  as  a  teacher 
and  as  an  artist,  and  his  sect  was  intended  to  be  a  reproduction  of 
Zendo's  teachings.  His  nickname  was  Yugyo  Shonin,  "  the  itinerating 
preacher,"  and  to  this  day,  the  head  of  the  Ji  sect  is  supposed  to  be 
always  travelling  about  the  country  preaching. 


CHAPTER   XX 

Heian  Buddhism^ 

It  was  in  the  year  a.d.  767,  in  the  first  year  of  the  period 
known  to  the  Japanese  as  Jingo  Keiun,  that  a  child  was 
born  in  a  village  in  Omi,  not  far  from  the  shores  of  Lake 
Biwa,  who  was  destined  to  exercise  a  great  influence  on 
the  Buddhism  of  his  country.  The  father,  a  Confucianist 
scholar,  and  yet  withal  a  man  of  religion  and  piety,  had 
often  prayed  for  a  son,  and,  having  obtained  his  desire, 
showed  his  gratitude  to  Heaven  by  the  care  which  he 
bestowed  upon  his  son's  education.  Saicho  (that  was  the 
name  by  which  the  son  was  later  known)  grew  up  a  well- 
trained  lad,  with  a  liking  for  books  and  a  wisdom  a  little 
(possibly)  beyond  his  years. 

His  father  was  a  man  of  religion  and  piety;  it  was 
small  wonder  that  the  son  should  follow  so  near  an 
example.  Buddhism  was  at  its  flood-tide  of  popularity 
during  the  eighth  century,  and  the  Court,  dissolute  and 
luxurious,  and  yet,  like  the  Athenians,  given  to  super- 
stition, encouraged  a  very  magnificent  system  of  ritualism 
as  a  make-weight  for  its  moral  and  ethical  deficiencies. 
It  was  very  natural  that  the  boy's  imagination  should  be 
caught  by  the  outward  splendour  of  the  worship  he  saw 
around  him,  and  that  his  favourite  pastime   should  be 

'  Heian  ia  the  old  name  for  Kyoto.  Kyoto,  which  is  even  now  the 
sacred  city  of  Japanese  Buddhism,  was  built  in  794  by  Kwammu 
Tennd,  as  his  capital.    Its  name  Heian  signifies  "  Peace." 

Q 


226         THE   CREED   OF  HALF  JAPAN 

playing  at  cliurch.    His  companions  nicknamed  him  the 
"  Little  Abbot." 

As  he  grew  older  his  religious  sense  deepened,  and  he 
saw  that  splendour  of  ritual  was  only  one  side  of  religion, 
and  by  no  means  the  most  important.  He  understood 
that  the  outward  magnificence  of  devotion  might  co-exist 
with  a  worldly  and  unregenerate  heart,  and  the  age  in 
which  he  lived  gave  him  many  warning  examples.  When 
he  was  born  Japan  was  ruled  over  by  a  woman,  the 
Empress  Shotoku.  Shotoku  first  came  to  the  throne 
in  the  year  749.  She  was  then  styled  Koken,  and  suc- 
ceeded her  father,  Shomu  (823-840),  who,  after  a  reign  of 
twenty-five  years,  had  abdicated  and  retired  to  a  monas- 
tery, Shomu,  like  his  aunt  Gensho  (715-823)  who  pre- 
ceded him,  had  been  a  liberal  patron  of  agriculture,  arts, 
letters,  and  religion.  The  "  Nihongi "  was  published  in 
the  reign  of  Gensho ;  under  Shomu  were  commenced  the 
great  temples  of  Hase-dera  and  Todaiji,  and  the  celebrated 
Daibutsu  of  Nara.  Dispensaries  and  hospitals  were 
opened,  bridges  built,  tiles  used  for  the  roofing  of  houses, 
and  examinations  instituted  for  the  selection  of  candidates 
for  Orders  and  the  public  service.  Shomu  was  the  first 
Emperor  of  Japan  to  receive  Baptism ;  ^   his  whole  life 

*  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  Buddhist  rite  of  Baptism  {Abhi- 
s'ehha,  Jap.  Kwanjo)  comos  into  prominence  just  at  the  period  when 
Buddhism  and  Nestorianism  came  into  contact.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  care  devoted  by  Buddhists  at  this  period  to  the  details  of 
Ordination.  Shomu's  reign  actually  saw  the  Nestorian  Christian — the 
physician  named  Rimitsu — at  the  Nara  Court.  He  was  evidently 
honoured,  for  he  was  granted  official  rank  along  with  a  Chinaman 
named  Ritsho,  who  became  naturalized  and  took  the  name  of  Kiyomara 
(Murdoch).  Kiyomaru  became  the  head  of  the  university.  It  seems 
probable  that  Rimitsu  was  in  charge  of  the  hospital  in  which  the 
Empress  Komyo  is  said  to  have  worked  as  a  nurse  during  the  small- 
pox epidemic.  A  few  years  later  we  find  a  Nestorian  priest,  Adam, 
collaborating  with  a  Buddhist  priest,  Prajna,  on  the  translation  of  a 


HEIAN   BUDDHISM  227 

was  devoted  to  the  furtherance  of  Buddhism  and  the 
exaltation  of  the  monks,  and  in  the  end  he  joined  the 
Order,  and  with  his  mother,  the  Empress  Dowager,  took 
the  vows  of  the  Bosatsu  Kai, 

Koken,  who  followed  him  on  the  throne,  carried  her 
devotion  still  further.  In  the  great  temple  of  Todaiji 
5000  monks  recited  the  daily  offices,  and  an  Imperial 
decree  forbade  the  taking  of  all  life.  After  a  reign  of  ten 
years,  her  minister,  Fujiwara  Nakamaro,  advised  her  to 
abdicate  in  favour  of  a  distant  cousin,  Junnin  (759-764), 
and  an  unlawful  affection  which  she  had  conceived  for 
an  ambitious  and  worldly  priest,  Dokyo,^  led  her  to 
acquiesce.  But  the.  retirement  of  the  Empress  was  not 
what  Dokyo  desired,  and  Dokyo  had  great  influence  with 
the  clergy.  A  civil  war  ensued.  Dokyo  and  his  followers 
defeated  Fujiwara  in  a  battle  fought  in  the  province  of 
Omi,  after  which  the  victorious  monk  dethroned  Junnin 
and  restored  Koken  to  power.  Junnin  was  banished  to 
Awaji,  where  he  died  the  following  year.  For  centuries 
he  was  known  in  history  as  Awaji  no  haitei  (the  Imperial 
Exile  of  Awaji),  and  it  was  not  till  1871  that  tardy  justice 
was  done  to  his  memory  by  his  restoration,  under  the 
name  of  Junnin,  to  the  official  list  of  emperors. 

Koken  then  reascended  the  throne  as  Shotoku.  She 
had  owed  her  restoration  to  the  fidelity  of  her  paramour, 

Persian  (^)  or  possibly  Uigur  text  of  a  treatise  on  the  Cardinal 
Virtues.  Tliis  can  hardly  have  been  a  Buddhist  book,  though  the 
Cardinal  Virtues  must  be  much  the  same  in  all  religions.  The  treatise 
known  as  "  Shat  paramita  sutra  "  appears  in  Nanjo's  Catalogue  as  being 
the  work  of  Prajna  alone.  Prajna  was  a  follower  of  Zendo's,  and  there 
seems  very  little  doubt  that  Zendoists  and  Nestorians  were  supposed 
to  belong  to  the  same  ship. 

*  A  similar  charge  was  brought  against  the  priest  Gembo,  who  had 
a  temple  built  to  his  honour  after  his  death  to  appease jhis  spirit  and 
prevent  it  from  wreaking  vengeance  on  his  murderers. 


228    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

aud  he  claimed  his  reward.  Dokyo  took  the  title  of  Hd-o 
(the  word  which  the  Japanese  always  use  for  the  Pope), 
and  he  claimed  a  temporal  throne  as  well.  But  here 
public  opinion  stepped  in,  and  the  god  of  the  temple  of 
Hachiman  ^  at  Usa,  a  god  then  reverenced  by  Buddhist 
and  Shintoist  alike,  pronounced  his  verdict.  Never  yet, 
he  said,  had  a  subject  dared  to  raise  himself  to  the 
Imperial  throne.  Shotoku  was  reluctantly  compelled  to 
banish  her  lover.    A  very  short  time  after,  she  died  (769). 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  events  that  Saicho  was 
born.  And  things  did  not  go  much  better  as  time  went 
on.  Shotoku  was  succeeded  by  Konin  (770-781),  but  the 
change  of  sovereign  brought  no  relief  to  the  country. 
The  Pujiwaras  were  reinstalled  in  ofi&ce,  it  is  true,  and 
the  meddling  Pope  Dokyo  banished  to  a  safe  distance,  in 
what  was  then  the  remote  province  of  Shimotsuke.  But 
the  Nara  monks  were  not  pleased  to  see  an  end  put  to 
their  temporal  power,  and  in  the  next  reign,  that  of 
Kwammu  (782-805),  an  insurrection  of  the  Ebisu  in  the 
north — one  of  a  series  of  similar  outbreaks,  and  therefore 
possibly  traceable  to  Dokyo's  sinister  influence — gave  the 
authorities  a  vast  amount  of  trouble.  Kwammu  resolved 
that,  at  whatever  cost,  the  interference  of  the  Buddhist 
clergy  in  matters  of  state  must  come  to  an  end,  and 
accordingly  removed  his  capital,  first  to  Uda,  and  eventu- 
ally to  his  new  city  of  Kyoto,  or  Heian. 

Now,  is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  lad  Saicho, 
brought  up  amidst   such  surroundings,  should   speedily 

*  Hachiman  is  the  god  of  war.  In  life,  he  was  the  Emperor  Ojin, 
the  peaceful  son  of  the  warlike  Empress  Jingo,  and  his  transformation 
into  a  god  of  battles  has  always  been  a  puzzle.  Originally  a  Shinto 
deity,  he  was  adopted  into  the  Buddhist  pantheon  (where  his  position 
was  still  more  incongruous)  by  the  Byobu.  It  was  the  ambition  of 
Hideyoshi  to  be  worshipped  after  death  as  Shin  Hachiman,  the  New 
god  of  War. 


HEIAN    BUDDHISM  229 

realize  that  there  is  something  else  in  religion  besides  its 
outward  show  ?  In  the  year  786,  being  then  nineteen 
years  of  age,  he  resolved  to  give  himself  up  to  the  religious 
life.  But  he  did  not  wish  to  be  a  monk  like  those  who 
were  bringing  the  great  monasteries  of  Nara  into  disgrace. 
He  chose  out  for  himself  a  solitary  spot  on  the  slopes  of 
Mount  Hiyei,  within  the  borders  of  his  own  province  of 
Omi,  and  there  erected  a  small  hut  of  grass  and  rushes, 
which  saw  the  beginnings  of  his  monastic  life.  Here  he 
lived,  prayed, 'studied,  meditated,  and  contemplated;^  in 
the  intervals  of  these  exercises,  he  tilled  a  few  rods  of 
ground;  when  he  could  not  do  that,  he  spent  his  time 
in  carving  a  statue  of  Yaku-0,^  which  he  presently  set  up 
in  his  little  chapel. 

Saicho's  favourite  books  at  this  time  were  those  which 
explained  the  doctrines  of  the  Chinese  sect  of  Tien-tai,  a 
sect  which,  in  China,  seemed  satisfactorily  to  have  solved 
the  difficult  problem  of  the  relations  between  Church  and 
State.  The  sect  did  not  then  exist  in  Japan ;  but  there 
were,  here  and  there,  a  few  men,  mainly  Chinese,  who 
devoted  themselves  to  the  study  and  exposition  of  these 
doctrines.  I  will  mention  one  name,  as  it  throws  a  very 
favourable  light  on  the  religious  feelings  of  the  time. 
Ganjin  Kwasho,  to  give  his  name  its  Japanese  pronuncia- 
tion, was  a  Tendai  monk  in  Southern  China  whose  lectures 
were  attended  by  many  students.     He  was  an  ardent 

*  By  contemplation,  which  must  he  distinguished  from  meditation, 
is  meant  that  quiet  sitting,  with  mind  and  body  perfectly  still,  which 
the  Japanese  know  as  zazen.  When  the  absolute  stillness  can  bo 
attained,  and  the  mind  is  free  from  aU  thought,  the  Vision  of  Truth 
is  said  to  come  to  it,  and  the  gate  leading  into  the  Invisible  World  is 
opened. 

-  Yaku-o  (Skt.  Bhaishajyaraja)  is  a  divinity  who  plays  an  important 
part  in  the  Hokekyo.  The  Vow  which  he  is  said  to  have  taken  before 
attaining  to  Buddhahood  relates  almost  entirely  to  physical  health  and 
personal  beauty. 


230         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

advocate  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  often  spoke  on  the 
subject  to  his  students.  At  last  one  day  he  put  the  matter 
very  strongly  before  them,  and  asked  for  volunteers.  Not 
a  single  student  answered  the  call.  The  next  morning  he 
told  them  after  lecture  that,  no  one  having  volunteered, 
he  should  go  himself,  and  the  superiority  of  example  over 
precept  was  at  once  shown  by  the  ready  response  of  over 
twenty  men,  who  had  been  willing  to  follow,  but  did  not 
feel  themselves  competent  to  lead. 

But  it  was  easier  to  volunteer  than  to  go.  Storms, 
pirates,  shipwreck,  a  casting  away  on  a  distant  and 
inhospitable  shore,  all  combined  to  delay  the  journey. 
Nearly  ten  years  elapsed  before  Ganjin  reached  Japan  ; 
when  he  did  so,  he  had  already  lost  his  eyesight  through 
the  hardships  of  his  adventures,  and  it  was  sheer  pluck 
that  pulled  him  through.  But  merits  like  these  were  not 
likely  to  go  unnoticed.  Ganjin  was  given  an  honourable 
post  at  one  of  the  Nara  temples,  where  his  undoubted 
sanctity  was  highly  reverenced  by  many  who  could  lay 
no  claim  to  a  similar  virtue  themselves.  He  was  put 
in  charge  of  the  Kaidan,  and  thus  became  the  minister 
of  ordination  for  the  monks.  He  died  before  Saicho's 
admission  to  the  Order,  but  the  books  he  brought  with 
him  influenced  Saicho's  course  of  life. 

Saicho  was  fortunate  (we  might  almost,  I  think,  add 
long-headed)  in  his  selection  of  a  site  for  his  monastery. 
Hiy.eizan  dominates  the  plain  of  Kyoto,  and  it  was  only 
five  years  after  the  consecration  of  the  chapel  with  its 
image  of  Yakuo  that  Kwammu  Tenno  forsook  Nara  and 
established  his  capital  at  Heian  (794).  The  following 
year,  Saicho,  whose  fame  for  sanctity  had  spread  very 
widely,  was  the  celebrant  at  a  great  Dai  Kuyo-e,  or  High 
Mass,  at  which  the  Emperor  himself  was  present,  as  well 
as  a  large  number  of  priests  from  Nara  and  the  south. 


HEIAN   BUDDHISM  231 

Kwammu  remained  faithful  all  his  life  in  his  admiration 
for  Saicho.  He  encouraged  him  to  go  from  place  to  place 
lecturing  on  the  Hokekyo,  and  one  of  the  last  acts  of  his 
reign  was  to  commission  him  to  go  to  China  to  consult 
the  Tendai  authorities  at  their  chief  seat,  and  thus  to 
complete  what  was  lacking  in  the  system  which  he  had 
been  the  means  of  establishing  in  Japan. 

Saicho  started  in  802^  as  a  chaplain  (may  we  call 
him?)  in  the  suite  of  Fujiwara  Kadomaro,  Japanese 
Ambassador  to  the  Court  of  the  Tangs.  Storms  delayed 
the  party,  and  it  was  not  until  the  following  year  that  he 
reached  China,  making  straight  for  the  great  monastery  of 
Tientai,  in  the  province  of  Chekiang.  Here  he  prosecuted 
his  inquiries  with  the  energy  of  a  man  who  knows  exactly 
what  he  wants  and  can  go  straight  to  the  point,  and  was 
soon  ready  to  return  again  to  Japan.  His  studies  had 
touched  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Zen  and  Shingon,  but 
his  main  interest  had  been  the  perfecting  of  his  own 
Tendai  system  by  the  acquirement  of  proper  authority 
under  the  Vinaya,  or  Kules  of  Ecclesiastical  Discipline. 
Here  let  me  digress  for  a  moment  to  summarize  the  chief 
points  of  the  Tendai  system. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  earliest  form  of 
Buddhism  in  China  was  unsectarian,  the  early  mission- 
aries having  been  content  to  call  themselves  Buddhists 
without  any  further  sectarian  distinctions.  From  265  to 
589  we  get  Indian  sects,  Abhidharma  or  Kusha,  Jojitsu, 
Sanron,  Jodo,  and  Nirvana,  some  of  which  have  already 
been  summarized.  From  the  beginning  of  the  Sui,  who 
ruled  from  589  to  618,  we  get  Chinese  sects,  the  Kegon 
and  Tendai,  which  gradually  drive  the  others  out  of  the 

'  There  is  a  slight  discrepancy  in  dates  in  the  authorities  I  have 
consulted.  Some  say  804,  but  Pr.  Papinot,  in  his  Dictionary,  says  802, 
and  I  have  thought  myself  safe  in  following  so  good  an  authority. 


232         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

field.  "We  have  already  spoken  of  Kegon ;  the  Tendai 
was  founded  in  538  by  Chisha  Daishi,  who  had,  however, 
had  predecessors,  and  who  claimed  to  derive  his  peculiar 
tenets  from  the  long-suffering  Nagarjuna,  who  is  claimed 
as  the  founder  of  nearly  every  heresy  or  sect  in  Northern 
Buddhism. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  Tendai  may  be  called 
introspection  {Kwanshin  no  hoho),  but  it  is  also  a  system 
of  harmonization  whereby  an  attempt  is  made  to  evolve 
something  like  harmony  and  order  out  of  the  bewildering 
chaos  of  the  Buddhist  Scriptures.  Its  teachings  are 
divided  into  two  great  divisions  or  gates,  the  gate  of 
teaching  (Kyo)  and  the  gate  of  meditation  (Kwan),  and  it 
claims  that  a  man  can  attain  to  Enlightenment  by  following 
either  the  teachings  contained  in  the  Scriptures  or  the 
practice  of  meditation  and  contemplation.  It  distinguishes 
three  Vehicles  instead  of  two :  the  Hinayana  (or  Shqjo), 
the  Apparent  or  Quasi- Mahay  ana  of  the  Jodo  and  Indian 
sects  {Gondaijo),  and  the  true  Mahayana  of  the  sects 
which  originated  in  China — Zen,  Shingon,  Kegon,  and 
itself  {Jitsudaijo). 

It  embraced  the  whole  collection  of  the  Mahayana 
books,  which  it  divided  into  five  periods.  S'akyamuni,  it 
was  said,  had  begun  his  ministry  by  preaching  in  heaven, 
to  angels  and  men,  the  transcendent  doctrines  of  the 
Kegon.  These  being  too  hard  for  ordinary,  sinful  men 
to  comprehend,  he  had  descended  to  Benares  with  the 
practical  teaching  of  the  Agon  Scriptures.  As  times 
rolled  on  the  teachings  had  been  "  developed  "  {vaipulya) 
in  the  Hodo  books,  as  the  next  class  were  called.  From 
development  to  wisdom  (jprajnd)  was  the  next  step; 
from  wisdom  to  the  consummated  perfection  of  the  Sad- 
dharma  pundarika  Sutra  was  the  natural  conclusion. 
Thus  the  doctrines  of  S'akyamuni  were  84,000  in  number 


HEIAN   BUDDHISM  233 

beginning  with  extreme  simplicity  and  ending  in  the 
clouds  of  mysticism.  In  the  delivery  of  these  many 
doctrines  Shaka  had  used  many  ways  of  teaching :  ton,  or 
suddenness,  letting  the  truth  burst  with  full  brilliancy  on 
the  mind  of  his  hearers ;  zen,  or  gradual  advance  from 
strength  to  strength ;  kimitsu,  or  esoteric  symbolism ; 
fujo,  or  parabolic  uncertainty.  He  had  adapted  his 
sermons  to  all  hearers,  and  had  so  contrived  that  in  one 
and  the  same  sermon  the  same  words  had  conveyed 
Hinayana  doctrines  to  some  hearers  and  Mahayana  to 
others  who  were  able  to  bear  it.  He  had  indeed  become 
"  all  things  to  all  men." 

The  Tendai  system,  which  embraced  all,  comprised 
many  things  which  were  not  Buddhist  at  all.  Its  doctrine 
of  sho  aku  no  homon,  or  inherent  evil,  is  dualistic  ;  it 
asserts  that  in  Shinnyo,  which  is  the  pantheistic  god, 
there  is  an  evil  principle  as  well  as  a  good,  that  the  two 
are  equal  in  duration  and  power.  Mauichseans  ^  and  Magi 
both  held  that  doctrine,  but  it  was  scarcely  a  Buddhist 
principle.  It  must  have  been  a  very  difficult  task  to  get 
doctrines  so  mutually  antagonistic  as  those  of  the  Zen  and 
j5do  to  live  side  by  side  in  the  same  religious  household. 

But  the  main  thing  that  Saicho  wanted  was  spiritual 
and  ecclesiastical  authority.  This  the  Chinese  Tientai 
seems  to  have  had  little  hesitation  about  granting,  and 
Saicho  was  soon  back  in  Japan,  with  a  native  episcopate 
in  his  own  hands. 

When   Saicho  first  went  to  China  he  was  followed, 
within  a  few  months,  by  another  young  monk,  who  went         ^ 
at   his  own  charges.      Kukai  was  born  at  Byobu-ga-ura  lC?Vt 
in  Sanuki  in  774     In  793  he  followed  Saicho  to  China, 

'  The  Manichsean  expressions,  Zl  jj;  ^^^  Zl  ^,  the  "  two  prin- 
ciples "  and  the  '*  three  moments  "  are  both  to  be  found  in  the  Japanese 
Tendai. 


234         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

and  occupied  himself  with  the  study  of  the  newly 
imported  Sbingon  or  Mantra,  which  had  but  recently 
arrived  in  China,  by  way  of  sea,  from  South  India.  He 
stayed  longer  in  China  than  did  Saicho.  When  he  reached 
his  home  he  found  the  latter  in  the  midst  of  carrying  out 
his  plans  of  Buddhist  reform,  and  engaged  in  fierce  con- 
troversy with  the  monks  of  Nara  and  the  Nanto.^  The 
controversy  was  on  the  subject  of  the  Kaidan. 

Kaidan  is  the  name  given  to  a  platform  or  dais,  which 
is  used  for  the  distribution  of  certificates  and  diplomas  to 
successful  candidates  for  the  priesthood.  Its  existence  in 
any  particular  temple  implied  the  right  of  the  authorities 
of  that  temple  to  confer  Orders,  and  the  Buddhist  monk 
is  as  jealous  of  his  Apostolic  succession  as  is  the  highest 
High  Churchman  amongst  ourselves.^  There  had  been  no 
ordinations  of  monks  in  China  before  a.d.  250,  previously 
to  which  the  simple  taking  of  the  "  threefold  Eefuge,"  in 
Buddha,  the  Law,  and  the  Community  of  Monks  had  been 
deemed  sufl&cient.  The  first  regular  ordinations  had  been 
held  about  350,  the  custom  having  been  brought  into  the 
country  by  an  Indian  monk  of  the  name  of  Buddhoganga. 
These  ordinations  had  been  of  the  Hinayana  type  (mainly 
connected  with  the  old  Indian  sect  of  the  Dharmaguptas)  ; 
they  had  found  their  way  to  Japan,  where  Kaidan  had 

*  Nanto,  "the  South,"  the  name  given  in  Kyoto  to  the  district 
round  Nara. 

*  Thus,  when  a  Buddhist  priest  is  ordained,  he  receives  "  letters  of 
orders  "  on  which  are  given  the  principal  names  of  the  priests  through 
whom  the  succession  has  come  down  to  him  from  the  Apostles  of 
S'akyamuni.  It  seems  impossible  to  trace  this  practice  earlier  than 
A.D.  250,  before  which  date  it  was  not  deemed  necessary  in  China.  It 
is  therefore  quite  possible  that  the  Buddhists  may  have  learned  the 
practice  from  Christian  neighbours  in  Central  Asia.  The  only  excep- 
tion to  this  rule  is  the  insignificant  sect  of  the  Yudzunembutsu,  who 
trace  their  succession,  not  to  S'akyamuni,  but  to  the  Vision  of  Amida 
vouchsafed  to  their  Pounder  in  the  twelfth  century. 


HEIAN   BUDDHISM  235 

been  erected,  at  the  Todaiji  at  Kara,  in  Chikuzen,  and  in 
Shimotsuke.  They  had  also  been  much  discredited  by 
their  connection  with  men  like  the  ambitious  and  un- 
principled Dokyo. 

But  a  new  succession  had  been  inaugurated  by  the 
Tientai  in  China,  and  Saicho,  having  received  the  necessary 
authorizations,  erected,  at  his  monastery  on  Hiyeizan,  a 
new  Kaidan  at  which  ordinations  were  to  take  place 
according  to  the  Chinese  Mahayana  discipline.  Saicho 
had  probably  his  good  reasons  for  taking  so  serious  a 
step  ;  but  his  action  set  the  whole  of  the  South  into  a 
blaze  of  indignation  and  excitement.  In  the  midst  of  it, 
Kukai  came  back  to  Japan. 

Which  side  would  Kukai  take  ?  He  was  a  Southerner  ^ 
by  birth,  for  he  hailed  from  Sanuki ;  by  education,  for  he 
was  at  the  time  attached  to  one  of  the  great  temples  at 
the  ancient  capital.  A  feeling  of  loyalty  prevented  him 
from  turning  against  his  old  friends  in  the  South.  At  the 
same  time,  he  was,  like  Saicho,  convinced  of  the  necessity 
of  reform,  and  he  had,  moreover,  a  great  friendship  for 
Saicho,  who  had  received  Baptism  at  his  hands. 

Both  sides  appealed  to  him,  and  he  was  at  a  loss  how 
to  act.  He  resolved  to  steer  clear  of  the  controversy 
altogether,  and  went  off  on  a  series  of  missionary  journeys 
throughout  the  land.  His  first  journey  was  to  the  Kwanto 
districts,  and  right  away  to  Shimotsuke  and  beyond.  He 
was  more  than  a  mere  preacher;  he  planned  ro^ds,  suggested 
the  making  of  bridges,  encouraged  agriculture  and  educa- 
tion, and  simplified  the  wj'iting  of  Japanese.  The  traveller 
will  find  his  posthumous  name  of  Kobo  Daishi  in  all 
parts  of  the  land :  he  was  the  Apostle  of  the  North,  and 
the  pacification  of  the  troublesome  northern  tribes  was 
much  facilitated  by  his  efforts.  When  he  returned  to 
Kyoto,  the  Kaidan  controversy  was  still  raging.     So  he 


236    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

went  oflf  touring  again,  and  this  time  perambulated  his 
native  island  of  Shikoku.^  On  his  next  visit  to  Kyoto, 
Saicho,  now  known  as  Dengyo  Daishi,  was  dead,  and 
Kobo  felt  that  he  could  at  last  hope  to  publish  his  own 
views  of  Buddhist  doctrine  without  running  counter  to 
those  of  the  friend  for  whom  he  had  so  warm  an  affection. 
He  retired  in  the  year  816  to  his  new  monastery  at  Koya 
San,  in  the  province  of  Kii,  and  there  wrote  his  "  Sango- 
shiki,"  "  Jujushinron,"  and  the  other  treatises  in  which  he 

/develops  his  system.  He  died  in  8B^,  a  venerable  and  $"«? 
[venerated  man.  Buddhist  Japan  scarcely  believes  him  to 
be  dead  even  now.  He  is  said  to  be  sitting  in  his  tomb 
in  Mount  Koya,  waiting  for  Maitreya  to  come  and  convert 
the  world.  Then  he  will  go  forth  from  his  place  of 
waiting  and  join  in  the  glory  of  victory. 

In  the  first  of  the  two  works  that  I  have  just 
mentioned,  the  "  Sangoshiki,"  Kobo  Daishi  works  out  a 
comparison  of  the  three  great  religions  of  the  East,  as  he 
understood  them — Confucianism,  Taoism,  and  Buddhism. 
All  three  were  to  be  found  in  the  Japan  of  his  day. 
Confucianism  (of  the  ancient,  unreformed  variety)  had 
been  there  longer  than  Buddhism,  and  the  Confucian 
literati  had  joined  hands  with  the  Kami  worshippers  in 
opposing  Buddhism,  just  as  they  had  done  with  Taoism, 
in  opposition  to  the  same  religion  in  China.  The  Shinto 
N  of  Japan  Kobo  seems  to  have  treated  as  almost  identical 
with  the  Taoism  of  China  (etymologically,  the  two  words 
are  the  same),  and  with  very  good  reason.     The  inter- 

1  In  the  Tsuzoku  Bukkyo  Shimbun  there  appeared,  from  the 
beginning  of  December,  1908,  a  series  of  articles  describing  the  journey 
which  Kukai  took  on  this  occasion.  It  is  a  favourite  route  for 
pilgrims,  and  might  stillibe  followed  by  the  adventurous  foreigner,  I 
have  drawn  my  information  as  to  Kukai's  .attitude  on  the  Kaidan 
question  from  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  same  paper  in  September, 
1908. 


^ 


'-/ 


HEIAN  BUDDHISM  237 

course  between  Japan  and  China  had  been  going  on 
for  over  three  centuries,  during  which  period  much  had 
come  into  Japan  besides  Buddhism  and  Confucianism. 
The  original  Kami-worship  had  been  raised,  as  it  were,  Sy 
into  a  system  by  the  very  fact  of  its  early  controversies 
with  Buddhism,  and  Dr.  De  Yisser  ^  has  recently  shown 
us  how  much  of  Taoism  there  lurks  in  the  Shintoistic 
folklore  of  Japan,  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  Taoism, 
formed  in  Kobo's  mind  the  three  legs  of  a  tripod  on 
which  the  cauldron  of  the  State  might  securely  rest. 
Only  the  Buddhism  which  he  taught  was  not  quite 
the  same  as  that  with  which  we  have  been  hitherto 
dealing. 

During  the  Tang  Period,  in  the  first  half  of  the  eighth 
century,  there  arrived  in  China  a  certain  number  of  men, 
mostly  from  Southern  India,  and  travelling  by  the  sea 
route,**  who  brought  with  them  a  new  and  evidently  very 
late  form  of  Buddhism,  which  had  practically  captured 
Thibet,  then  a  leading  kingdom  of  Asia,  and  which,  from 
its  very  newness,  was  likely  to  captivate  the  imagination 
of  the  novelty-loving  Japanese.  This  system  Kobo 
developed  in  his  "  Jujushinron,"  or  "  Treatise  of  the  Ten 
Grades  of  Existence." 

All  sentient  beings,  said  the  Shingon  doctors,  may  be 
divided  into  ten  classes.  The  lowest  were  the  saiidkudby 
or  three  bad  classes — the  brutes,  the  demons,  and  the 
hungry  spirits ;  next  came  man,  and  next  above  him  the 

*  In  papers  read  before  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan  on  Japanese 
Folklore, 

'  See,  for  instance,  what  Dr.  Nanjo  says  about  Vajrabodhi,  Subha- 
karainha,  Amoghavajra,  and  Bodhiruci  ("  Catalogue  Trip.,"  App.  ii., 
Nos,  150,  153, 154,  155),  The  Shingon  of  Japan  is  very  similar  to  the 
Buddhism  of  Thibet.  Yet  it  is  not  identical,  and  the  three  books  on 
which  the  Japanese  Shingonists  mainly  rely  are  not  to  be  found  in  the 
Thibetan  canon.    The  Japanese  Shingon  came  from  South  India. 


/ 


238    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

denizens  of  heaven.  These  three  grades  belonged  to 
the  natural  world.^  The  spiritual  world  consisted  of 
those  who  were  called  out  from  the  natural  world  to 
follow  after  the  truth.  Its  lowest  grade  was  the  /Sfra- 
mana,  who  strove  after,  and  the  Engahu  or  Pratyeka- 
buddha,  who  realized,  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul.  That 
included  the  whole  range  of  Buddhist  believers,  but  there 
was  an  election  within  the  election — the  doctrines  of 
Hosso,  of  Tendai,  of  Kegon,  offered  three  successive 
steps,  each  higher  than  the  last,  for  their  respective  devo- 
tees, and  at  the  top  of  all  stood  the  Shingon. 

My  readers  will  perhaps  remember  that  in  my  earlier 
chapters  I  spoke  of  Vairoc'ana,  the  supreme  Buddha — a 
reflection,  as  it  were,  of  Osiris,  whom  we  found  in  the 
Alexandrian  Gnosis.  Vairoc'ana  is  honoured  as  supreme 
by  the  Hosso,  Tendai,  and  Kegon,  and  the  order  in  which 
Kobo  places  these  sects  seems  to  depend  on  the  amount  of 
honour  which  they  were  disposed  to  give  to  Vairoc'ana.^ 


»  It  must  be  remembered  that  Buddhism  never  looks  upon  heaven 
as  a  place  of  moral  or  spiritual  excellence.  It  is  a  world  peopled  by 
spiritual  existences,  but  very  much  like  our  own,  with  good  and  bad  in 
it.  The  least  in  the  kingdom  of  Buddha  is  higher  than  the  Buddhist 
heaven. 

'  Both  Honen  Shonin  and  Nichiren  criticize  Kobo's  arrangement  of 
the  order  of  precedence  assigned  to  the  sects—  the  latter  with  consider- 
able asperity,  as  is  his  wont.  It  was  from  Nichiren  that  I  got  the 
allusion  to  S'akyamuni  not  being,  in  Kobo's  opinion,  fit  to  be  the  cow- 
herd of  Vairoc'ana.  Nichiren  aptly  says  that  if  Vairoc'ana  is  a  person- 
age of  so  great  importance,  his  existence  should  be  proved  as 
,_.^  S'akyamuni's  has  been,  and  he  roundly  charges  K5bo  with  being  a  liar 
(dai-niogo)  for  trying  to  palm  off  fictitious  Buddhas  on  his  countrymen. 

A  distinction  is  sometimes  made  between  the  Boshana  of  the  Hosso, 
Kegon,  and  Tendai,  and  the  Vairoc'ana  {Beroshana)  of  the  Shingon. 
It  is  of  this  latter  that  Nichiren  seeks  to  have  proofs.  The  fact  seems 
to  be  that  there  are,  as  it  were,  two  strains  of  cryptic  teaching  respecting 
Vairoc'ana.  The  one  [Eoshana)  came  overland,  or  from  North- Western 
India,  and  is  probably  connected  with  Syrian  Gnosticism.  The  second 
{Beroshana)  came  from  Southern  India,  and  has  Alexandrine  affinities. 


HEIAN   BUDDHISM  239 

I  fear  I  must  repeat  myself  here  a  little  to  make  things 
clear. 

There  are  two  Buddhisms :  one  is  of  a  plain,  simple    ^^ 
sort,  quite   good  enough   for   the   practical   purposes   of 
this  world ;  that  is  the  Buddhism  taught  by  S'akyamuni, 
whether  in  the  Hinayana  or  the  Mahayana.      The  true 
spiritual   Buddhism  is   that  proclaimed    by   Vairoc'ana,  j 
a  Being  so  high  that  S'akyamuni   (with  a  pun  odTTus 
family  name)  "  was  not  worthy  to  be  his  cowherd."     This  • 
secret  teaching  had  been  delivered  to  Nagarjuna  by  one 
who   had  received  it  from  Vairoc'ana  himself,  had  been 
secretly  handed  down  during  the  ages,  and  had  finally 
been  published  in  the  fulness  of  the  times. 

Like  the  gods  of  the  Manichaeans  and  Gnostics,  Vairo- 
c'ana is  ^yefold,  and  is  represented  by  the  five  great  ^ 
statues  of  the  Five  Dhyani  Buddhas.  To  the  mystic  five 
correspond  the  five  elements,  the  five  senses,  the  five 
colours,  the  five  planets,  and  many  other  groups  of  five. 
But  .they  are  really  six,  for  just  as  Vairoc'ana,  besides 
occupying  his  seat  of  honour  in  the  midst  of  the  Five, 
overshadows  and  embraces  all  his  colleagues,  so  there  is  a 
sixth  sense,  a  sixth  element,  etc.,  which  overshadows  and 
embraces  everything  (alaya  shiki).  The  five  are  repre- 
sented by  five  Chinese  characters,  representing  the  sounds 
A-ba-ra-ka-ki,  and  to   these  is  added   a  sixth  syllable, 

The  Japanese  Tendai  has  its  mantra  or  magic  formulae  (Jap. 
darani)y  as  well  as  the  Shingon.  But  it  has  no  mudra,  or  manual 
gestures.  These  are  peculiar  to  the  Shingonism  brought  in  by  Kukai, 
or  Kobd.  Neither  does  the  Tendai  accept  the  secret  books  said  to 
have  been  found  by  Nagarjuna  at  the  Iron  Tower  in  Southern  India- 
It  gets  its  mantra  and  dharani  from  the  Dragon  Palace  books,  and  from 
Maitreya's  lectures  in  Asangha'a  lecture  hall. 

There  were  always  certain  differences  between  Syrian  and  Alexan- 
drine Gnosticism.  It  is  interesting  to  find  them  cropping  up  in  Japan. 
They  throw  a  flood  of  light  on  the  obscure  Book  of  lao. 


240         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

un,  A-ba-ra-ka-M-im  means  "  Glory   to  Abraxas,"  and 
i   Abraxas  is  the  name  found  engraved  on  Egyptian  rings 
and  charms.     It   was    the    name   used   for   "  God "   by 
Basilides  and  other  Gnostics  of  the  first  century.^ 

As  with  the  Manichseans  and  Gnostics,  the^  world  is 
twofold.  There  is  the  "  Diamond  world "  {Kongo-kai, 
Vajradhdtu),  in  which  all  is  at  rest  and  ejernal,  without 
change,  without  decay.  It  is  the  world  of  ideas,  the 
world  of  gods.  The  other,  equally  ancient,  is  the  "  Womb 
World"  (Taizo-kai,  Garbhadhdtu),  the  world  of  change, 
decay,  birth,  death.     The  one  world  is  good,    the  other 

'^  evil,  and  thus — as  with  the  Manichseans — evil  and  good 
are  co-equal  with  one  another  and  co-eternal. 

In  the  Womb  World  there  is  a  constant  struggle  ; 
from  the  Diamond  World,  where  dwell  the  Everlasting 
Powers,  whose  sum-total  represents  the  Mandala  or 
Pleroma  of  God,  there  issue  forth  countless  rays  of  various 
light,  incarnated  or  manifested  in  many  shapes  and  forms 
of  angels  and  gods,  to  aid  man  in  his  struggles.  No 
lasting  value  need  be  attached  to  these  forms.     They  are 

X|  but  the  transient  appearances  of  Vairoc'ana  the  Invisible, 
who  is  alone  imchangeable  and  everlasting. 

Heaven  helps  man  by  the  enlightenment  of  his  mind. 
In  the  Shingon  system,  as  with  the  ManichaBans,  it  is 
supposed  to  do  so  much  more  efficaciously  by  revealing  to 
him  certain  magic  formulae  and  gestures,  the  performance 

'  Un  is,  of  course,  the  hum  of  Om  mani  padme  hum.  The  Shingon- 
ists  say  that  Abarakakiun  may  be  contracted  into  Om,  which  repre- 
sents the  first  and  last  syllables  of  the  sacred  word.  In  the  gom,a 
ceremony  the  god  of  Fire,  BA,  is  worshipped  with  a  ritual,  which  has 
been  described  in  the  publications  of  theMus^e  Guimet.  The  Shingon - 
ists  still  practise  Kwanjo,  as  do  also  the  Tendai,  and  I  have  in 
my  possession  a  tract,  emanating  from  the  Temple  of  Daishi  at  Kawa- 
saki, in  which  the  believer  is  urged  not  to  delay  coming  to  Baptism, 
and  to  come  oft. 


HEIAN   BUDDHISM  241 

of  which  enables  him  to  put  the  enemy  to  flight  and  com- 
pel Heaven  to  take  his  part.  These  formulse  are  known 
as  the  secrets  of  the  body,  mouth,  and  heart.  They  are 
found  in  Manichaeism ;  they  also  exist  in  the  magical 
systems  of  Hinduism.  The  goma  ceremony,  which  is  the 
offering  of  pure  fire,  seems  to  connect  the  system  with 
Hinduism,  and  yet  the  syllable  ra,  used  as  the  name  for 
"  Fire,"  points  to  Egypt. 

The  Manichseans  divided  their  followers  into 
"  Hearers  "  and  "  Perfect."  So  does  Shingon.  It  intro- 
duced  into  Japan  the  term  sokioshin  johutsu,  which  means 
that  a  man  may,  whilst  still  living,  become  a  Perfect 
Buddha,  higher  than  the  gods  of  the  trees  and  mountains, 
and,  like  S'akyamuni,  equal  to  the  Most  High. 

I  will  leave  it  to  my  readers  to  imagine  what  must 
have  been  the  effect  of  a  teaching  which  made  the  enlight- 
enment of  the  mind  a  secondary  matter,  which  laid  its  ^"^ 
principal  stress  on  magic  formulae  and  incantations,  and 
which  encouraged  its  believers  to  expect,  during  this  life, 
a  position  equal  to  that  of  the  Almighty. 

And  yet  Kob5  Daishi  was  very  far  from  being  a  bad  \y^ 
man.     We  can  look  upon  him  with  admiration,  we  can 
read  most  of  his   books  with  reverence,  only,  alas  !   we 
cannot  help   being  reminded,   as   we  read,   of  a   Being 
who  is  sometimes  "  transformed  into  an  Angel  of  Light." 
And  when  we  look  at  the  degradation  of  Japan  during  the\ 
Heian  period,  at  the  worldliness  of  the  Buddhist  clergy,  at     \ 
the  trained  fighting  men  of  the  Hieizan  monastery,  at  the       ^ 
powerlessness  of  the  sovereigns,  at  the  robber  bands  which 
infested  the  capital  at  the  very  time  when  the  artistic 
luxury  of  the  court  was  at  its  height,  at  the  Imperial 
palace  burnt  to  the  ground  four  times  in  the  course  of 
one  short  reign,  at  the  sale  of  governorships,  etc.,  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  money  for  Buddhist  temples,  at  the 

R 


242    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

miseries  of  the  people,  and  at  the  piteous  spectacle  of  the 
Odorinevibutsu  ^  as  a  remedy  for  those  miseries,  we  shall 
be  inclined  to  think  that,  in  Japan  also,  we  have  come 
across  some  of  his  traces. 

*  The  "  dancing  nembutsu  "  was  the  name  given  to  a  priest,  Kuya, 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  who  went  round  the  country  repeating  the 
nembutsu  and  dancing.  He  hoped  by  this  means  to  convert  the 
people  to  religious  ways.  The  pathetic  part  of  the  phenomenon 
is  that  Kuya  was  an  Imperial  prlnee,  and  that  he  seems  to  show  us 
the  powerlessness  of  the  Imperial  House,  kept  in  subjection  by  the 
dominant  Fujiwaras,  anxious  to  help  the  people,  and  yet  too  ill- 
instructed  to  be  able  to  do  it.  There  are  forms  of  superstition  which 
are  absolutely  well-intentioned,  and  such  was  Kuya's.  Such  also  was  the 
~"\ji  superstition  of  the  man  who,  in  the  next  century,  made  it  a  rule  to 
repeat  the  formula  Namu-amida-butsu  60,000  times  a  day.  In  the 
miseries  of  that  age  Japan  could  have  been  described  in  Tennyson's 
words — 

"  An  infant  crying  in  the  night, 
An  infant  crying  for  the  light. 
And  with  no  language  but  a  cry." 


CHAPTER   XXI 

"  Namtjdaishi  " 

The  title  of  this  chapter  is  the  title  of  a  Japanese  poem 
on  the  Life  of  the  great  Kobo  Daishi :  "  Glory  to  the 
Great  Teacher." 

Kobo  Daishi's  life,  as  it  has  lived  in  the  religious 
traditions  of  Japan,  is  full  of  wonders.  It  is  true  that 
the  present  generation  scoffs  at  the  wonders,  and  tries  to 
construct  lives  of  the  distinguished  monk  with  all  the 
miracles  left  out.  The  rationalized  biographies  do  not 
suit  the  popular  fancy.  It  is  as  the  wonder-working 
Apostle  of  a  new  form  of  faith  that  Kobo  Daishi  lives  in 
popular  fancy,  and  the  religious  historian  cannot  afford  to 
leave  out  the  miracles  which  adorn  or  disfigure  his  life. 
The  miracles  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  religious  history 
of  the  country. 

The  poem  "  Namudaishi "  is  a  religious  ballad,  written 
in  the  ordinary  7.5.7.5  metre  of  the  Japanese  wasan.  It  is 
not  a  great  poem ;  but  it  gives  a  good  summary  of  Kdbo's 
life  as  it  appears  to  the  ordinary  Buddhist  believer  in 
Japan.  And  it  has  never  yet  been  presented  to  the 
English-speaking  public.^  i 

1.  On  the  fifth  day  of  the  middle  decade  of  the  sixth 

1  There  is  an  English  translation  published  in  1909,  in  a  volume 
on  Kobo  Daishi  entitled  "  Namudaishi."  But  it  was  made  by  some 
Japanese  who  knew  but  little  English,  and  had  no  English  friend  to 
correct  his  translation.  It  requires  some  knowledge  of  "English  as 
she  is  spoke  "  to  understand  it. 


244         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

month  in  the  fifth  year  of  Hoki/  in  the  Baron's  Hall  on 
the  shore  of  Byobu,  in  the  land  of  Sanuki,  a  bright  Hght 
shone.     It  was  the  birth  of  our  great  sage. 

2.  When  the  lad  was  but  five  years  old  he  would  sit 
constantly  among  the  lotuses,  and  there  hold  converse 
with  the  Buddhas.  But  what  he  spoke  of  he  never  told, 
not  even  to  his  mother. 

3.  In  his  heart  there  arose  the  desire  to  save  mankind 
from  all  their  sorrows  and  pains,  and  he  sought  on  Mount 
Shashin  ^  to  accomplish  this  desire  by  the  sacrifice  of  his 
own  life.     Then  angels  came  and  saved  him  from  death. 

4.  Whilst  at  play  he  built  himself  a  pagoda  of  clay. 
The  Four  Heavenly  Kings  ^  at  once  came  and  stood  guard 
over  it.  The  Imperial  Messenger  passing  by  saw  the 
prodigy  and  was  amazed.  "  This,"  said  he,  "  is  a  divine 
prodigy." 

5.  In  the  fifteenth  year  of  his  age,  in  spring-time,  he 
left  his  native  village  and  went  to  Kyoto,  where  he  dili- 
gently studied  all  the  doctrines  of  Confucianism.  But  he 
found  that  they  contained  no  wisdom  wherein  he  might 
put  his  trust. 

6.  In  his  search  after  truth  he  learned  all  Buddhist 
doctrines.  Of  all  the  Buddhas  he  learned  to  trust  espe- 
cially in  Hojo,*  whom  he  made  his  special  deity. 

7.  But  [his  mind  was  so  nimble]  that  though  he 
learned  but  one  thing  or  two,  he  could  thence  deduce 

'  I.e.  June  15,  a.d.  774. 

"  Mount  Shashin  is  in  the  Island  of  Shikoku.  The  word  means 
"throwing  away  the  body";  and  the  place  "the  Mountain  of  Self- 
oblation."  The  idea  of  religious  suicide  or  self-immolation  is  one  of 
the  saddest  features  of  mediaeval  Buddhism.  It  always  gives  me  the 
idea  of  a  diabolical  perversion  of  Rom.  xii.  1. 

=■  I.e.  the  Shi  Tenno.  Originally  Hindu  deities,  they  have  been 
pressed  by  the  Mahayana  into  the  service  of  Buddhism. 

*  Akas'agarba,  a  well-known  Bodhisattva. 


"NAMUDAISHI"  245 

a  thousand.      "  Many  are  the  ways,"   he  said  in   his 
Sangoshiki ;  "  but  Buddhism  is  the  best  of  alL" 

8.  At  Muroto  in  Tosa  he  was  performing  his  devotions. 
A  bright  star  fell  from  Heaven,  and  entered  his  mouth. 
At  midnight  an  evil  dragon  came  forth  against  him ;  but 
he  spat  upon  it,  and  with  his  saliva  he  killed  it. 

9.  It  was  in  the  nineteenth  year  of  his  age  that, 
looking  up  to  Gonzo  as  his  religious  guide,^  he  took  upon 
himself  the  vows  of  the  Bodhisattva,  and  became  a  home- 
less S'ramana,  striving  after  enlightenment,  and  wearing 
the  black  silk  robes  of  the  Buddhist  priest. 

10.  At  Shusenji  in  the  province  of  Idzu,  and  in  other 
places  besides,  he  discovered  the  hot  springs  bubbling  out 
of  the  earth.  And  it  was  he  that  demonstrated  to  the 
world  the  use  of  coal.^ 

11.  Inside  the  tower  of  the  Temple  of  Kumadera  in 
Yamato  there  was  revealed  to  him  the  doctrine  which  is 
above  all  others.^  But  as  there  was  none  whom  he  could 
question  thereon,  he  received  permission  from  the  Emperor 
to  go  to  China  for  study. 

12.  In  company  with  the  ambassadors  *  that  were  sent 

^  Gomo  must  have  been  a  monk  of  the  Yinaya  sect.  See  above 
chapter  on  Dharmagupta.  To  have  a  religious  teacher  seems  to  be  a 
necessity  in  Buddhism.  I  have  seen  it  stated  that  without  a  teacher 
one  cannot  be  saved,  because  the  Way  is  the  eSect,  the  teacher  is  the 
Cause,  and  therefore,  however  much  of  the  Way  a  man  has  acquired,  if 
it  is  done  without  a  teacher  it  is  an  eSect  without  a  cause,  i.e.  nothing. 

'  Notice  how  quaintly  the  practical  Japanese  mind  mixes  up  the 
material  with  the  spiritual. 

'  The  legend  is  that  in  answer  to  earnest  prayers  for  guidance  he 
was  told  in  a  dream  to  look  for  a  certain  book  in  the  Temple  of 
Kumadera.  He  looked,  and  the  book  which  he  found  was  the  "  Vairo- 
c'ana  Sutra,"  brought  to  China  from  Southern  India  by  way  of  the 
sea,  and  containing  that  Shingon  doctrine  which  has  such  marvellous 
resemblances  to  the  Egyptian  speculations. 

*  The  ambassador  on  this  occasion  was  Fujiwara  no  Ason.  The 
embassy  took  tribute  to  China. 


246    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

to  the  Court  of  the  Tangs  in  China,  he  arrived  at  a  certain 
port  of  China.  But  the  party  was  not  allowed  to  land, 
because  they  had  not  come  to  the  usual  port  of  debarkation. 

13.  Then  did  our  sage  write  a  letter  in  the  name  of 
the  ambassadors,  in  the  which  he  described  all  the  pains 
and  perils  of  the  voyage  over  the  sea,  with  its  storms  and 
billows.     And  then  were  they  allowed  to  land. 

14.  Keikwa  the  Ac'arya^  was  delighted  to  welcome 
him,  and  having  purified  the  Mandara  ^  for  him,  committed 
to  him  the  whole  of  the  great  law  of  the  Eyobu  ^  in  its 
entirety,  to  its  lowest  depths. 

15.  Keikwa  the  Ac'arya  told  him  that  the  secret 
treasure  of  the  Shingon  law  lay  hidden  within  the  sacred 
books,  and  that  it  would  be  well  for  him  to  make  use  of 
the  help  of  pictures.* 

16.  [From  Keikwa]  Kobo  received  over  a  hundred 
books  explaining  the  Eyobu  Mandara  as  contained  in  the 


^  Ac'arya  is  an  Indian  word  unknown  to  the  earliest  periods  of  the 
Mahayana.  Its  use  denotes  a  long  association  of  Brahmans  and 
Buddhists. 

'  The  Mandara  is  in  one  sense  the  pleroma,  i.e.  the  sum-total  of  the 
divine  personalities  that  go  to  make  up  the  Godhead.  The  word  is 
also  used  (and  here,  according  to  the  Japanese  commentary)  to  denote 
a  magic  ring  or  circle,  used  in  sorcery.  We  must  never  forget  the  great 
part  that  sorcery  plays  in  the  Shingon,  just  as  it  did  in  the  Egyptian 
Gnosticism,  and  its  kindred  Cabbala. 

*  The  Ryobu  doctrine  is  that  there  are  two  worlds,  of  which 
one,  the  world  of  ideas,  is  fixed  and  eternal.  The  material  world 
corresponds  to  the  world  of  ideas,  with  this  difference,  that  the  one 
Idea  in  the  Ideal  World  may  have  many  material  counterparts  in  the 
world  of  matter.  Thus  the  gods  of  India  may  be  taken  as  the  corporeal 
counterparts  of  the  incorporeal  Truths  which  the  Eternal  Buddhas 
stand  for.  The  same,  however,  holds  good  for  the  gods  of  China  and 
Japan.  And  things  which  are  equal  to  the  same  thing  are  equal  to 
one  another. 

*  Shingonism  has  undoubtedly  always  been  a  most  potent  stimulant 
of  art. 


"  NAMUDAISHI"  247 

doctrine  of  the  Vajrayana.*  Also  he  received  many  sacred 
vessels  and  implements  that  had  been  handed  down  from 
the  days  of  Amogha,^  the  doctor  of  the  Tripitaka. 

17.  The  boy^  whom  he  met  wrote  the  character  for 
"dragon"  upon  the  water.  But  our  Sage,  seeing  that 
one  small  stroke  had  been  omitted,  took  up  his  pen 
and  supplied  that  which  was  wanting.  Then  the  dragon 
revealed  himself  in  his  true  form  and  flew  away  to  the 
sky. 

18.  Under  Prajna,*  the  monk  of  Nalanda  in  Central 
India,  and  under  Munis'ri,'the  Master  of  the  Tripitaka,  he 
studied  Sanskrit,  and  was  by  them  presented  with  many 
books  of  the  Scriptures  in  Sanskrit. 

19.  With  a  pen  in  his  mouth,  one  in  each  hand,  and 
one  in  each  foot,  he  wrote  five  lines  of  a  poem  simul- 
taneously. The  Tang  Emperor  was  astonished  at  what 
he  saw,  and  gave  him  the  title  of  the  "  Five-Pen-Priest." 

20.  But  when  Keikwa  his  teacher  died,  he  wrote  his 

1  Vajraydna,  i.e.  the  Shingon,  which  explains  the  world  by  reference 
to  the  r)iamond  World,  or  World  of  Ideas  (Vajradhatu).  The  use  of 
this  word  seems  to  show  that  the  Shingon  is  distinct  from  the  other 
streams  of  the  MahaySna. 

2  Amogha  (Jap.  Puku)  reached  China  from  Southern  India  during 
the  seventh  century.    He  was  a  most  prolific  writer. 

*  This  boy  is  said  to  have  been  a  manifestation  of  Manjusri,  the 
Bodhisattva  who  represents  Wisdom,  and  who  is  specially  connected 
with  China.  We  can  see  that  Manju^ri,  whose  "  true  form  "  is  that 
of  a  dragon,  or  Naga,  has  a  special  connection  with  the  Avatamsaka 
(Kegon)  doctrine,  which  I  have  described  in  the  chapter  on  NagSrjuna. 
His  worship  in  China  must  at  this  time  have  been  very  popular,  for 
Prajna  went  to  China  especially  to  make  inquiries  about  him. 

*  Prajna  brings  us  into  close  touch  with  Christianity,  for  it  was 
he  that  collaborated  with  a  Nestorian  priest  in  the  translation  of  a 
book  out  of  the  Hu  language  (Persian?)  into  Chinese.  The  book  is 
said  to  have  been  a  Buddhist  Sutra,  but  this  is  doubtful.  I  have  been 
able  to  find  out  nothing  about  Munis'ri ;  but  it  is  said  that  there  was 
a  Brahman  also  in  their  company — another  indication  pointing  to  the 
Hindu  affinities  of  the  Shingon. 


248         THE   CREED    OF    HALF  JAPAN 

memorial  on  a  monument,  moistening  his  inkslab  with 
his  tears,  and  erected  it  at  Eyiigen. 

21.  Now,  when  he  was  about  to  return  to  his  own 
land,  standing  on  the  sea-beach  he  threw  his  vajra  '^ 
towards  Japan.  Strange  to  say,  the  vajra  flew  straight 
across,  and  was  found  hanging  on  the  branch  of  a  pine- 
tree  at  Takano.^ 

22.  The  secret  doctrines  which  he  had  learned  in  the 
land  of  the  Tang,  together  with  many  precious  and  rare 
objects  for  the  protection  of  the  land,  all  these,  together 
with  the  catalogue,  he  offered  in  the  Imperial  Palace. 

23.  When,  to  return  thanks  for  the  divine  protection 
afforded  to  him  during  his  travels,  he  offered  incantations 
before  the  treeless  temple-ground  (of  the  god  of  Kasui), 
straightway  green  leaves  and  bright  flowers  came  forth 
in  abundance  on  what  had  till  then  been  the  "  Naked 
Mountain."  ^ 

24.  Our  land  had  once  possessed  the  tea-plant,^  but 
the  use  of  tea  had  been  quite  forgotten.  Our  Sage 
brought  with  him  a  millstone  and  some  seeds  of  the  tea- 


^  The  vajra  is  a  little  instrument  of  incantation,  made  of  copper  or 
some  other  metal,  and  looking  somewhat  like  a  thunderbolt,  when  held 
in  the  hand  of  the  celebrant.  It  plays  a  large  part  in  the  Shingon 
ritual,  and  is  an  element  in  the  names  of  many  Shingon  books  and 
Shingon  priests. 

'  I.e.  K5ya. 

'  The  story  is  that,  when  Edbo  started,  he  made  a  prayer  at  the 
Shrine  of  Usa  Hachiman,  commending  himself  to  the  protection  of  the 
gods.  In  answer  to  this  prayer  the  god  of  Kasui  (whose  name  is 
not  given)  promised  to  accompany  Kobo  on  his  journey  and  to  protect 
him  wherever  he  went.  In  return  for  this  Kobo  produced  the  trees  and 
flowers.  It  is  clear  from  this  that  Kobo's  object  in  going  to  China  was 
to  find  a  moyen  de  vi/vre  for  Buddhism  and  Shinto. 

*  The  same  claim  is  made  in  the  twelfth  century  for  Eisai,  the 
foimder  of  the  Soto  sect.  It  would  seem  that  in  the  long  period  of 
civil  war  the  art  of  tea-growing  was  again  lost. 


"NAMUDAISHI"  249 

plant,  and  taught   our  people  how  to   prepare   tea   and 
drink  it. 

[I  omit  verses  25-28,  the  only  one  of  any  importance 
being  the  one  in  which  Shotoku  Taishi  is  said  to  have 
appeared  to  him  to  teach  him  the  Shoman-gyo,  a  Sutra 
which  concerns  itself  mainly  with  the  duties  of  lay 
women.     V.  29  is  important.] 

29.  In  the  second  month  of  the  second  year  of  Konin 
(Feb.,  811  A.D.),  along  with  the  Emperor  Saga,  he  received 
the  Kwanjo  of  the  gods  ^  from  the  hands  of  Onakatomi, 
the  famous  ritualist. 

30.  Then,  beginning  with  Dengyo  Daishi,  he  admitted 
into  his'Church  the  head  priests  of  all  the  Nara  sects  who 
had  faith  in  his  doctrines,  and  administered  to  them  the 

^  This  was  evidently  the  formal  inauguration  of  the  Ryobu  Shinto. 
The  Emperor,  Saga  Tenno,  and  K6b5  were  baptized  (Kwanjo)  into  the 
Shinto  community  by  the  chief  ritualist  of  that  faith.  And  the 
Shintoists  in  their  turn  were  baptized  into  Buddhism  by  Kobo.  The 
bargain  was  struck  on  the  assumption  that  the  Buddhas  and  Bodhi- 
sattvas  were  essentially  the  same  beings  as  the  Shinto  gods,  and  that 
the  two  religions  meant  the  same  thing,  though  they  said  it  in  different 
language.  It  does  not  matter,  says  the  Shingon  commentator,  in 
praising  the  Scripture  of  the  Lotus  of  the  Good  Law,  whether  one  says 
in  Sanskrit,  Saddharmapundarika  sutram,  or  in  Chinese,  Myo  Ho 
Renge  Kyo,  or  in  Japanese,  Tayenaru  nori  no  hachisu  no  hana  no 
minori.    The  meaning  and  the  effect  are  identical  in  each  case. 

Of  the  Emperor  Saga,  Murdoch  says  ("  History  of  Japan,"  vol.  i.  p. 
227)  that  he  was  "  undoubtedly  a  highly  accomplished  man  of  brilliant 
parts  .  .  .  deeply  versed  in  Chinese  literature  ;  that  he  did  everything 
to  encourage  its  study,  and  exerted  himself  to  complete  the  Sinicization 
of  the  country."  It  was,  however,  more  the  splendour  and  magnificence 
of  the  Chinese  Court  than  its  solid  virtues  that  appealed  to  him. 
Luxury  and  ostentation  crept  in,  the  nobles  found  it  hard  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  the  Court  life,  and  relief  had  to  be  granted  them  by 
exempting  their  domains  from  Imperial  taxes.  This  impoverished  the 
Court,  created  great  semi-independent  baronies,  and  brought  about 
precisely  that  state  of  affairs  which  Kwammu  had  been  at  such 
pains  to  avert  when  he  tried  to  break  the  power  of  the  great  Nara 
monasteries. 


250         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Baptism  which  admitted  them  into  the  priesthood  of  the 
Secret  Doctrine. 

31.  At  a  religious  discussion  in  the  Palace  of  the 
Seiryoden  his  body  suddenly  assumed  the  appearance  of 
Vairoc'ana.  The  Divine  Light  (Komyo)  streamed  out 
from  him,  and  the  whole  company,  overawed  and 
trembling,  fell  to  the  ground  and  worshipped  him. 

32.  That  he  might  pray  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
Fujiwara  House,^  he  set  up  an  altar  in  the  Nannendo 
(at  Nara),  and  there  offered  worship  to  Kenjaku  Son.^ 
Thereupon  the  god  (of  Kasuga)  made  his  appearance  and 
chanted  a  song  of  praise. 

33.  From  China  he  brought  to  Japan  the  soil  upon 
which  the  eight  pagodas,^  had  stood.  This  soil  he 
divided  amongst  eighty-eight  places  (in  S^Huki),  so  thatXA 
they  who  suffer  from  illness,  as  the  result  of  Karma  either 
in  the  past  life  or  present,  might  go  round  them  on 
pilgrimage  and  so  be  cleansed  from  their  sins. 

34.  He  prayed  where  the  water  was  brackish,  where 
it  was  foul,  where  there  was  no  water  at  all.  Everywhere, 
to  the  great  joy  of  mankind,  wells  of  pure  water  sprang 

35.  In  the  mountainous  districts  of  the  province  of 
Kii,  two  dogs,  one  white  and  one  black,  and  a  hunter,* 

*  The  Fujiwara  family  were  coining  into  prominence  at  this  time. 
For  many  years  the  head  of  this  family  was  the  practical  director  of 
the  Emperor's  councils  ;  and  the  custom  subsists  to  this  day  that  the 
Empress  of  Japan  is  always  a  Fujiwara.  The  god  of  Kasuga,  Ama  no 
Koyane,  is  the  deified  progenitor  of  the  Fujiwaras. 

^  Kenjaku  Son  is  a  name  given  to  the  Bodhisattva  Amoghapasa, 
often  identified  with  Kwannon. 

»  The  eight  pagodas  are  the  eight  stupas  in  India  built  over  the 
relics  of  S'akyamuni,  whose  ashes  were  divided  amongst  eight  tribes. 

*  Kobo  Daishi  knew  better  than  to  forbid  hunting.  The  experiment 
had  been  tried  during  the  Nara  period,  with  the  result  that  the  nobles 
and  warriors,  after  a  bravo  attempt  to  comply  with  the  Buddhist  law, 


"NAMUDAISHI"  251 

came  to  show  him  the  way,  and  brought  him  to  a  place 
where  there  had  once  been  the  shrine  of  an  ancient 
Buddha.^  The  god  was  the  guardian  deity  of  that  hunting- 
place. 

36.  Then  Nyuzu  appeared,  the  god  of  that  place 
(Koya),  and  offered  him  that  place  until  the  coming  of 
Maitreya,^  in  order  that  the  land  might  be  blessed  by 
him  (Kobo). 

37.  When  first  he  began  to  open  up  Mount  Koya, 
after  he  had  found  on  a  pine  tree  the  vajra  he  had  thrown, 
and  after  the  sword  ^  had  come  out  from  the  earth,  then 
indeed  he  knew  that  the  place  was  the  seat  of  ancient 
Buddhist  worship. 

38.  Not  only  did  he  make  the  pool  of  Tochi  in  Sanuki, 
but  in  other  places  also  he  made  pools.  In  addition 
to  bridges  and  piers,  he  repaired  a  great  number  of 
bridges. 

had  given  up  in  despair  and  gone  back  to  their  hunting  ways.  My 
friend,  Mr.  Yanagita,  of  Ushigome,  Tokyo,  was  kind  enough  to  send 
me  a  few  weeks  ago  a  little  pamphlet  about  some  peculiar  hunting 
customs  in  a  little  village  on  the  slopes  of  the  volcano  of  Mount  Aso. 
Amongst  other  practices,  it  is  customary  in  that  village  to  hold  a 
funeral  service  over  the  dead  body  of  the  wild  boar.  The  form  of 
service,  which  is  called  indo,  and  is  very  ancient,  was  drawn  up  for  the 
villages  by  Kobo  Daishi. 

1  Said  to  be  Kafiyapa  Buddha,  S'akyamuni's  immediate  predecessor. 

*  Kobo  constantly  taught  that  Maitreya,  the  disciple  of  S'akyamuni, 
who  has  reached  to  Bodhisattvaship,  and  is  now  in  the  Tushita 
heaven,  from  whence  he  came  once  to  lecture  for  Asangha  (see  above, 
Chapter  XVI.  p.  163),  will  come  again  at  the  end  of  the  age  to  restore 
all  things  by  the  confuting  of  heretics.  This  is  not  a  universal  belief 
among  Japanese  Buddhists;  but  it  is  very  strongly  held  by  the 
Japanese  Shlngon. 

'  In  India  ruling  families  belonging  to  the  so-called  Sun  Dynast 
make  a  great  deal  of  the  Sword.  Kobo  Daishi,  who  was  a  Sanskritist, 
probably  knew  this,  and  it  may  have  been  ho  that  pointed  out  the 
importance  to  the  Imperial  FamUy  of  Japan  (also  a  Sun  Dynasty) 
of  the  Sacred  Sword.  We  find  the  same  idea  with  Attila  and  the 
Huns,  and  also  perhaps  in  King  Arthur's  sword  Excalibur. 


252    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

39.  In  order  to  save  men  from  the  plague^  he 
preached  the  inner  meaning  of  the  Heart-Sutra.  The 
roads  were  filled  with  men  that  had  been  raised  from 
the  dead;  the  whole  land  enjoyed  the  blessings  of 
peace. 

40.  He  founded  the  temple  upon  Mount  Bandai  and 
placed  there  as  his  successor  the  priest  Furuichi  from 
Tsukuba.  He  subdued  the  wilderness  of  Mount  Futara 
and  called  the  place  Nikko. 

41.  He  was  anxious  that  the  flowers  of  literature 
should  flourish  among  our  men  of  the  Land  of  the  Day- 
spring,  and  composed  in  the  letters  of  our  country  a  poem 
on  the  four  verses  of  the  Tathagata. 

42.  The  doctrines  of  S'akyamuni  are  eighty-four 
thousand  in  all,  the  last  ^  being  the  teaching  on  Nirvana 
which  Buddha  himself  gave.  The  most  important  of 
these  have  been  thus  interpreted. 

"  Life's  naught,  Death's  naught,"  said  Shaka.     "  E'en 

to-day," 
Said  Kobo,  "  have  we  crossed  the  mountain-pass 
Of  true  existence." 

Shaka :  "  Now  with  joy 
Nirvana's  peace  we  enter." 

"  Life's  a  dream," 
Said  Kobo,  "  Death,  the  waking  of  the  Soul 
From  some  poor  drunkard's  nightmare  misery." 

•  This  outbreak  of  plague  is  assigned  in  the  Commentary  to  the 
year  820.  Murdoch  does  not  mention  it.  The  Commentary  passes 
over  without  a  word  the  clause  concerning  the  men  raised  from  the 
dead.  The  Heart-Sutra  is  the  Prajnd  Pardmitd  Hridaya  Sutra,  a 
very  short  Sutra,  which  will  be  found  in  S.  B.  E. 

*  The  Sects  are  not  in  agreement  as  to  which  is  to  be  considered  the 
last  Sutra  that  Buddha  preached.  Some  say  the  Nirvana  teachings 
came  last,  but  others  give  that  place  to  the  "  Saddharmapundarika  " 
or  the  Amida  books. 


"NAMUDAISHI"  253 

43.  "  All  things  are  full  of  change,"  said  Shaka's  self. 
"The  flowers,  that   fragrant  bloom,  will  change 

and  droop," 
Said  our  Sage  Kobo.    "  Life  is  but  death  "  became, 
To  Kobo,  "  Who  can  hope  to  live  for  aye  ?  " 

44.  Thus  any  man  who  can  write  the  Kgjia  characters 
of  the  Irolia,^  whether  he  understand  their  meaning  or 
not,  becomes  the  disciple  of  our  great  Sage,  and  receives 
the  happiness  that  comes  from  the  Law. 

45.  This  syllabary  he  founded  on  the  Sanskrit  alphabet, 
which  we  venerate  as  sacred,  and  arranged  according  to 
the  principles  of  Nirvana,^  handing  it  down  to  us  in  a 
word-picture  of  fifty  syllables.  Thus  he  provided  for  the 
education  of  future  generations. 

46.  Basing  his  action  on  the  expressed  wish  of  the 
Emperor  Saga,  he  founded  in  the  Toji  Temple  at  Kyoto  a 
shrine  for  the  worship  of  Hachiman,^  where  he  worshipped 
the  god  and  laid  upon  him  the  duty  of  protecting  the 
Imperial  House. 

*  The  word  Iroha,  like  our  English  word  "  alphabet,"  represents 
the  first  three  characters  of  the  Japanese  syllabary,  as  arranged  by 
Kobo  Daishi. 

^  This  is  a  reference  to  the  well-known  text,  of  which  the  Iroha 
poem  is  but  a  paraphrase — 

Shogyo  mujo, 
Zesho  meppo 
Sh5  metsu  metsu  i 
Jaku  metsu  i  raku. 
"  All  phenomena  are  impermanent, 
Because  they  are  subject  to  the  law  of  origination  and  perishing : 
When  this  law  of  origination  and  perishing  comes  to  an  end 
Calm  will  be  found  to  be  the  true  happiness." 

'  Hachiman,  a  deification  of  the  Japanese  Empress  Ojin.  Had  Kobo 
been  contented  with  identif3mig  Japanese  deities  with  Buddhas  he 
would  have  satisfied  many  minds.  But  his  introduction  of  unnecessary 
Indian  deities  was  much  resented.  Nichiren,  for  instance,  accepts 
Amaterasu  as  Dainichi,  and  Ojin  as  Hachiman,  but  attacks  the  other 
identifications  most  severely. 


254    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

47.  The  god  of  Inari^  appeared  on  Mount  Fushimi 
and  received  from  Kobe's  hand  the  sacrifice  he  offered. 
"  Together,  you  and  I,"  he  swore,  "  we  will  protect  this 
people." 

48.  When  there  was  a  drought,  he  received  an  order 
from  the  Emperor,  and  made  supplication  for  rain  in  the 
Imperial  Garden  of  Shinsen-yen.  Then  the  Holy  Maidens 
and  the  Naga  Princes  ^  appeared,  and  there  was  a  gentle 
rain  over  all  the  land. 

49.  To  Kenne,^  who  had  been  his  companion  on  his 
visit  to  China,  he  entrusted  the  sacred  globe  as  an  object  of 
worship.  "  This,"  said  he,  "  has  been  consecrated  by  many 
mystic  enchantments." 

50.  He  mastered  all  the  five  branches  of  knowledge;* 
he  studied  the  whole  of  the  ten  Pitakas.  He  was  proficient 
in  painting  and  in  sculpture,  and  in  order  to  promote  the 


*  Inari  is  the  farmers'  god,  the  god  of  rice.  Kobo  had  already  won 
the  favour  of  the  Imperial  House,  of  the  warriors,  of  the  Pujiwaras,  by 
his  skilful  identifications  of  deified  heroes  with  Buddhas  and  Bodhi. 
sattvas.  Now  he  claims  the  allegiance  of  the  farmers.  We  can  admire 
his  great  ingenuity ;  all  the  same,  it  was  a  terrible  prostitution  of  the 
truth,  and  we  are  not  astonished  that  the  manly  samurai  should  always 
have  had  the  utmost  contempt  for  him  as  an  ingenious  and  not  over- 
scrupulous miracle-monger. 

*  Nothing  is  said  in  the  English  translation  of  "  Namudaishi "  (to 
which  I  have  already  alluded)  about  the  Nagas  and  maidens.  But  they 
are  mentioned  in  the  Japanese  original. 

*  Kenne  is  otherwise  unknown.  The  "  sacred  globe  "  (Jap.  hoshu) 
is  a  crystal  ball. 

*  The  five  branches  of  knowledge  are  the  same  as  the  five  "  branches 
of  learning  "  which  we  used  sometimes  to  hear  of  as  children.  The 
expression  "  ten  pitakas,"  or  ten  Collections  of  Scriptures,  seems  to 
point  to  a  conclusion  that  I  have  long  since  come  to,  though  I  have 
never  had  the  opportunity  of  working  it  out,  that  the  Chinese  Buddhist 
Canon  represents  a  collection  of  the  Holy  Books  of  ever  so  many  dis- 
tinct religious  bodies,  each  of  which  requires  quite  independent  treat- 
ment. 


"NAMUDAISHI"  255 

intellectual  welfare  of  his  countrymen  he  founded  the 
Shugei-shuchi-in.  ^ 

51.  During  the  second  week  of  the  first  month  in  every 
year,  there  is  held  in  the  Imperial  Palace  a  Festival  of 
Prayer  for  the  reigning  Emperor.  This  was  instituted 
by  him;  it  was  a  most  magnificent  festival,  and  was 
maintained  for  a  thousand  years,  even  to  the  days  of 
Meiji.^ 

52.  On  one  day  after  the  twentieth  of  the  third  month 
of  the  second  year  of  Jowa  (a.d.  835)  he  foretold  that  he 
should  die,  and  leaving  behind  him  a  hundred  esteemed 
and  valuable  instructions,  departed  this  life. 

53.  For  those  whose  affectionate  desire  should  draw 
their  minds  to  the  Sage  in  after  years,  the  prince  painted 
a  portrait  of  him.  The  prince  ^  did  indeed  paint  the  face, 
but  the  eyes  were  painted  in  by  the  Sage  himself. 

54.  When  he  died  it  was  as  though  a  bright  light  had 
gone  out  in  the  midst  of  a  black  night.  Thousands  of  his 
followers,  lay  and  priestly,  followed  him  weeping  to  the 
graveyard  of  Okunoin  in  Koya, 

55.  And  what  have  the  Emperor  Saga  and  the  Sage 
between  them  ?  There  had  been  some  compact  between 
them,  for,  lo!  when  the  Emperor  died,  his  coffin  was 
mysteriously  borne  through  the  air  to  Koya,  and  Kobd 
himself,  coming  forth  from  his  grave,  performed  the 
fimeral  obsequies. 

56.  Then  did  the  Emperor  Uda  himself,  wisely  follow- 
ing in  his  father's  footsteps,  receive  from  the  Sage's  hand 
the  sacred  Baptism,  and  thus  set  a  good  example  for 
succeeding  ages. 

^  A  sort  of  College.  There  were  many  of  these  founded  during  the 
reigns  of  the  learned  emperors.  See  Murdoch's  "  History  of  Japan,'* 
vol.  i.  p.  229. 

*  This  custom  has  now  been  given  up. 

*  The  prince  was  Shinnyo,  the  third  son  of  the  Emperor  Heijo. 


256    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

57.  Eighty  years  after  his  decease,  an  Imperial 
Messenger  opened  the  gate  of  his  sepulchre.  His  hair, 
they  found,  had  grown  long  upon  his  head ;  they  shaved 
it  off  and  gave  him  a  change  of  garments.^ 

58.  The  Emperor  that  reigned  in  the  days  of  Engi  ^ 
(i.e.  Daigo)  was  deeply  impressed  by  the  lessons  of  his 
life,  and  honoured  him  with  the  title  of  Kobo  Daishi.^ 

59.  When  Shunnyu,  the  Imperial  Messenger  to  the 
Temple  in  which  our  great  Sage  is  worshipped,  was  unable 
to  see  the  face  of  the  Sage,  the  Sage  himself  guided  the 
worshipper's  hand  to  touch  his  knee.  Never,  as  long  as 
he  lived,  did  the  messenger  forget  that  feeling.* 

60.  The  Emperors  Kwampyo  and  Shirakawa,  the  retired 
Emperor,  Go-Uda,  and  several  others  of  our  rulers  had  such 
faith  in  the  Sage's  merits  that  they  made  pilgrimages  to 
Koya  to  worship  at  his  sanctuary. 

61.  Verily  the  teaching  of  the  Tathagata  of  the 
Dharma  Kaya^  (the  Spiritual  Body)  has  been  handed 
down  without  change  and  without  break;  through  the 
long  chain  of  our  patriarchs  the  lamp  of  light  has  been 
handed  down  to  us.^ 


*  In  the  minds  of  his  followers,  the  Sage  is  still  uncorrupted  in  his 
tomb,  awaiting  the  coming  of  Maitreya.  The  Baptism  of  the  Emperor 
Uda  (if  by  Kobo)  must  have  been  nairaculous,  for  he  did  not  come  to  the 
throne  imtil  887. 

*  The  year-period  Engi  was  from  908-922  a.d, 

'  Kobo's  original  name  was  Kukai,  and  ultra-imperialist  Con- 
fucianists  always  speak  of  him  as  such.  Kobo  Daishi  means  "  The 
Great  Teacher  who  spread  the  Law." 

*  This  story  is  to  be  found  in  Satow  and  Hawes'  "  Handbook  to 
Japan,"  p.  416  (2nd  edition). 

*  I.e.  Vairoc'ana,  whose  body  is  a  spiritual  body,  and  therefore  un- 
changeable and  everlasting,  without  beginning  or  end. 

'  The  patriarchs  of  the  Shingon  are  well  known.  They  are  reckoned 
as  eight :  (1)  Vairoc'ana,  (2)  Vajrasattva,  (3)  Nagarjuna,  (4)  Nagabodhi. 
These  were  in  India.    Then  in  China  there  were :   (5)  Yajrabodhi,  (6) 


"NAMUDAISHI"  257 

Amoghavajra  (Fuku),  (7)  Hui-Kuo  (Jap.  Keikwa).  Then  the  doctrine 
comes  to  Japan  with  K6b5. 

There  is  a  second  enumeration.  Vairoc'ana  and  Vajrasattva,  they 
say,  must  not  count,  as  very  little  is  known  of  them.  The  eight 
patriarchs  must  be  reckoned  as :  (1)  Nagarjuna,  (2)  Nagabodhi,  (3)  Vajra- 
bodhi,  (4)  Subhakarasinha  (Jap.  Zenmui),  (5)  Amoghavajra,  (6)  Keikwa, 
(7)  Ichigyo,  (8)  Kobo. 

It  must  be  noticed — 

(i)  that  Nagarjuna  gets  his  information  from  Vajrasattva,  who 
gets  it  from  Vairoc'  ana.  It  does  not,  therefore,  represent  a  very 
old  teaching.  Nagarjuna  is  reckoned  as  the  thirteenth  Patriarch  of 
the  Zen  sect ;  he  is  at  most  only  the  third  Patriarch  of  the  Shingon. 
And  if  we  assume  Nagarjuna  to  have  lived  about  the  middle  of 
the  second  century,  the  inference  is  almost  irresistible  that  Vajra- 
sattva and  Vairoc'ana  cannot  date  from  much  before  the  middle  of 
the  first. 

(ii)  The  Shingon  Patriarchs,  Vajrabodhi,  Amoghavajra,  etc.,  reached 
China,  vid  the  sea-route,  during  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries.  They 
came  from  South  India  and  Ceylon,  in  both  of  which  places  there  were 
Egyptian  colonies. 

(iii)  I  have  already  in  a  previous  chapter  given  many  instances 
showing  the  close  connection  between  Egyptian  Gnosticism  and  the 
Shingon.    I  will  now  give  another. 

In  the  commentary  to  the  last  verse  of  Namu  Daishi,  the  writer 
says  that  the  Shingon  is  different  from  other  forms  of  Buddhism.  It 
has  had  no  great  changes,  no  violent  reformations,  no  developments.  Its 
doctrine  has  been  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  of  the 
faithful  by  the  transmission  of  what  is  called  the  "  Seal  of  Vairoc'ana." 
The  "  Seal  of  Vairoc'ana  is  said  to  be  the  secret  meaning  of  the  letter  A 
in  the  Sanskrit  alphabet.  A-ji,  as  it  is  called,  is  a  very  sacred  thing  to 
a  Shingonist.  "  The  paths  which  must  be  trodden  in:visiting  the  build- 
ings of  Koya  San,"  say  Satow  and  Hawes  (I.e.),  "  together  form  the  San- 
skrit letter  A,  which  is  regarded  as  the  symbol  of  the  Taizokai "  (i.e.  the 
Diamond  World,  or  World  of  Ideas,  of  which  Vairoc'ana  is  the  centre 
and  the  life).  In  "  Pistis  Sophia  "  (Schmidt's  edition,  p.  81)  there  is  a 
note  given  by  a  later  hand.  According  to  this,  the  Seal  of  the  Undying 
One  {aBivaros,  in  Shingon,  Amida  is  always  amrita)  is  acta.  He  that 
sitteth  on  the  throne  (i.e.  Christ  the  "  First  Mystery ")  is  aaa ;  the 
interpretation  of  ithe  whole  Name  of  God  is  aaaa,  aaaa,  aaaa.  'O  fiiv 
'KfiwTOi  olpavhs  ^iyytrai  rh  A,  says  Irenseus  of  the  Gnostic  Marcus  (Iren., 
lib.  i.  cap.  xiv.  7).  The  Gnostics,  it  is  well  known,  stole  the  Christ  of 
the  Christians.  The  Shingon,  possibly  without  knowing  it,  have  been 
for  centuries  the  receivers  of  stolen  goods. 

Dr.   C.  U.   Pope,  in  a   paper  on   the   "  Study  of  South   Indian 

S 


258    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Vernaculars,"  in  J.R.A.S.  for  April,  1885,  quotes  a  distich  from  Tiru- 
valluvar,  the  pariah  weaver,  which  runs  thus — 

"  A  as  its  first  of  letters  every  speech  maintains  ; 
The  Primal  Deity  is  first  through  all  the  world's  domains." 

Tiruvallavar  came  from  Mailapiir  in  South  India,  where  stands  the  Mani- 
ch»an  shrine  of  St.  Thomas.  It  was  from  South  India  that  Kobo's  Shingon 
came  with  its  stress  on  A-ji.  The  Tamil  poet's  date  is  between  a.d. 
1000  and  1200.  Dr.  Pope  speaks  of  it  as  the  "  Oriental  book  which  more 
than  any  other  in  the  wide  range  of  Eastern  literature  seems  to  reflect 
the  moral  teaching  of  the  Great  Master  whom  all  the  Western  world 
reveres." 


CHAPTER   XXII 

The  Buddhism  of  the  Gempei  Period* 

It  is  very  difi&cult  to  describe  in  a  short  paragraph,  or 
even  in  one  long  chapter,  the  complicated  period  of 
Japanese  history  which  has  for  its  central  point  of  interest 
the  fierce  wars  waged  with  such  relentless  bitterness 
between  the  rival  families  of  the  Taira  and  Minamoto 
and  their  respective  factions.  It  would  be  beyond  the 
scope  of  the  present  work  to  try  to  do  so.  We  must 
content  ourselves  with  a  brief  mention  of  some  of  the 
leading  features  of  the  period,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned 
with  the  history  of  Japanese  religion. 

During  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  the  supreme 
power  in  Japan  lay  practically  in  the  hands  of  the  great 
family  of  the  Fujiwaras,  who,  under  one  title  or  another, 
monopolized  all  the  great  offices  of  State,  and  kept  the 
emperors,  always  their  creatures,  and  very  often  connected 
with  them  by  ties  of  marriage  and  affinity,  in  a  state  of 
absolute  subjection.  Occasional  attempts  were  made  to 
destroy  the  Fujiwara  monopoly.      Sugawara  Michizane,^ 

'  Oempei  is  the  name  given  to  the  period  of  the  great  Civil  Wars 
between  the  families  of  Minamoto  (in  Sinico-Japanese  Gen)  and  Taira 
(flei).  In  this  chapter  I  mean  the  term  to  include,  roughly,  the  period 
betv?een  the  outbreak  of  the  so-caUed  Hogen  war  (1156)  and  the 
establishment  of  the  Hojo  Regents  at  Kamakura  about  1200.  But 
the  term  must  be  treated  as  very  elastic. 

*  Sugawara  Michizane  (845-903),  the  son  of  an  obscure  but  talented 
family,  exercised  a  very  great  influence  over  the  Emperor  Uda  (889- 
897),  and  laboured  with  great  diligence  to  break  the  power  of  the 


26o    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

now  worshipped  as  Tenjin,  and  famous  alike  for  book- 
learning,  political  science,  archery,  and  loyal  devotion, 
made  such  an  attempt  in  the  reigns  of  Uda  Tennd  (887- 
897)  and  his  successor  Daigo  (898-930),  A  few  years 
later  (933),  Taira  Masakado,  aided  by  one  of  the  Sumitomo 
branch  of  the  Fujiwara  themselves,  tried  to  break  through 
the  tyranny  of  the  regent,  and  raised  a  rebellion  which 
it  took  some  time  and  energy  to  quell,  and  which  has 
a  special  significance  from  the  fact  that  its  leader  aimed 
at  the  Imperial  Crown  for  himself.  But  such  attempts 
always  proved  abortive,  and,  during  the  whole  of  the 
period  in  question,  the  ship  which  bore  the  fortunes  of 
the  Fujiwaras  rode  triumphantly  over  all  waves  and 
came  through  all  storms. 

The  nominal  captain  of  the  Fujiwara  vessel  was  always 
the  Emperor.  But  it  was  never  forgotten  in  practice  that 
his  command  was  merely  nominal.  The  real  power  lay 
in  the  hands  of  the  first  lieutenant,  and  for  fear  the 
captain  should  seek  to  assert  his  authority,  or  in  any 
way  interfere  with  the  working  of  the  ship,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  keep  him  happy  and  amused  in  many  harmless 

Fujiwaras  and  raise  the  prestige  of  the  Imperial  Family,  He  persuaded 
his  master  to  abdicate  in  favour  of  his  son,  Daigo  (898-930),  under 
whose  reign  he  continued  his  political  designs,  being  much  aided 
therein  by  the  ex-Emperor,  who  had  abdicated  on  purpose  to  be  able 
to  work  with  more  freedom  for  the  attainment  of  his  aims.  The  Fuji- 
wara, however,  contrived,  in  901,  to  poison  the  Emperor  Daigo's  mind 
by  false  charges  against  Michizane,  who  was  banished  to  Izu  in  spite 
of  all  the  efforts  made  on  his  behalf  by  the  ex-Emperor,  He  died  two 
years  later,  constant  in  his  faithfulness  to  the  master  who  had  treated 
him  so  ungratefully.  He  has  since  been  deified,  and  is  worshipped 
in  various  localities  as  Kan  Shojo,  Tenjin,  Temmangu,  etc.  He  was 
a  celebrated  archer.  Her  Majesty  the  Empress  has  a  very  pretty 
poem  which  tells  how  he  rose  straight  from  his  writing-table,  took 
a  bow,  and  hit  a  difficult  mark  to  show  that,  book-worm  though  he 
was  accused  of  being,  he  was  still  able  to  do  manly  service  for  his 
master. 


BUDDHISM   OF  THE   GEMPEI   PERIOD    261 

and  innocent  ways.  The  luxury  which  the  Fujiwaras 
encouraged  was  no  mere  wanton  display,  no  simple  seek- 
ing after  pleasure.  It  was  adopted  with  a  view  to  a 
practical  end,  and  besides  succeeding  in  its  immediate 
purpose,  led  to  other  and  far-reaching  results.  The  Fuji- 
waras became  the  liberal  patrons  of  arts  and  letters. 
The  pictures  for  which  Japan  is  so  justly  famous ;  her 
music,  poetry,  and  dramatic  art,  those  creations  which 
are  held  so  vividly  to  portray  the  character  of  the  senti- 
mental yet  strangely  matter-of-fact  Japanese  people ; — all 
owe  their  development  mainly  to  the  artistic  instincts 
of  this  gifted  and  powerful  family,  and  for  these  things, 
at  least,  Japan  owes  them  a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude.^ 

It  is  to  be  noted  here  that  the  arts  and  letters  of  early 
mediaeval  Japan  are  all  Buddhist,  or,  at  least,  are  so 
thoroughly  impregnated  and  saturated  with  the  spirit 
of  that  religion  that  it  is  impossible  to  understand  their 
inner  beauties  without  some  knowledge  of  the  Faith  which 
inspired  the  artists.  The  Emperor  Kwammu  had  moved 
his  capital  from  Nara  to  Kyoto  to  be  free  from  the 
intervention  of  the  meddling  priesthood  in  matters  of 
State,  and  Dengyo  had  founded  his  monastery  upon 
Hieizan  in  the  hopes  of  finding  a  quiet  spot  where  he 
might  be  free  from  "earth's  many  voices."  The  event 
was  quite  the  opposite  of  what  either  of  these  men  ex- 
pected.^ The  Tendai  reforms  turned  Japanese  Buddhism 
into  a  wide  -  spreading  organization  with  far  -  reaching 
ramifications.  The  Fujiwaras  knew  how  to  use  that 
organization    for    their    own    ends,    and    the    Buddhist 

'  Articles  in  the  Hansei  Zasshi,  vol.  xii.,  on  the  luxury  of  the 
Pujiwara  period. 

*  Nichiren,  however,  represented  the  almost  simultaneous  founda- 
tions of  Kyoto  and  Hieizan  as  having  been  the  result  of  a  conspiracy 
between  Dengyo  and  the  Emperor  for  bringing  the  Buddhist  Church 
into  political  dependence  upon  the  Crown. 


262    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

priesthood  in  their  hands  became  a  political  machine.  The 
monks  were  the  votaries  of  art  and  science ;  they  com- 
posed the  songs,  painted  the  pictures,  laid  out  the  gardens, 
and  designed  the  palaces  in  which  the  luxuriously  trained 
court  found  its  pleasures  and  forgot  its  feebleness,  and 
when  the  captain  of  the  ship,  as  sometimes  happened, 
began  to  know  too  much,  and  to  stir  about  on  his  soft 
cushions,  some  monastery  would  furnish  a  convenient 
desert  island  upon  which  the  restless  skipper  might  be 
marooned.^ 

Sometimes  a  skipper,  more  long-headed  than  the  rest, 
did  not  wait  to  be  marooned,  but  shut  himself  up  volun- 
tarily in  his  own  cabin,  as  it  were,  and  continued  to 
direct  the  ship  of  State,  from  the  safe  shelter  of  some 
monastery,  through  the  person  of  some  infant  son  or 
grandson,  whom  he  put  on  the  throne  instead  of  himself, 
and  for  whom  he  acted  as  guardian  or  regent.  Such  was 
the  course  adopted,  e.g.,  by  the  Emperors  Shirakawa  and 
Toba,^  and  it  seemed  quite  natural  in  a  country  like 
Japan,  where  the  "  power  behind  the  throne  "  has  always 
been  so  potent  a  reality.  An  ex-Emperor,  living  in  a 
monastery,  and  from  thence  directing  the  affairs  of  State 
in  the  name  of  his  immature  son  or  grandson,  would 
seem  to  be  an  ideal  state  of  things  from  the  point  of 
view  of  an  ambitious  priesthood.  But  the  Fujiwaras 
understood  the  principle  of  divide  et  impera.     The  Nara 

*  The  list  of  Japanese  emperors  during  this  period  shows  a  majority 
of  names  of  sovereigns  who  came  to  the  throne  as  infants  in  succession 
to  deposed  predecessors,  and  who  were  forced  in  their  turn  to  abdicate 
as  soon  as  they  reached  manhood  or  wanted  to  exert  their  powers. 

«  Shirakawa  reigned  a.d.  1078  to  1086 ;  Toba,  1108  to  1123.  Shira- 
kawa did  not,  however,  die  vmtil  1129,  and  Toba  lived  until  1156. 
There  was  a  time  when  three  ex-Emperors  were  all  alive  at  the  same 
time,  eating  out  their  hearts  in  early  retirement,  whilst  one  of  their 
number  helped  to  pull  the  wires  for  their  baby  kinsman  on  the  throne. 


BUDDHISM   OF  THE   GEMPEI   PERIOD    263 

monasteries  were  jealous  of  the  new-fangled  growths  on 
the  slopes  of  Mount  Hiei;  the  Hieizan  household  was 
encouraged  to  go  in  for  domestic  feuds.  The  appointment 
of  a  Zashu,  or  Archbishop,  of  the  Tendai  community, 
chosen  not  from  the  monks  of  the  Mother  House  of 
Hieizan,  but  from  the  inmates  of  the  daughter  institution 
at  Otsu — the  Onjoji,  or  Miidera — gave  the  signal  for  a 
strange  civil  war  within  the  fold  of  the  Tendai  itself. 
Hieizan  and  Miidera  became  the  headquarters  of  two 
warring  armies,  with  a  military  organization  of  tera- 
samurai,  or  temple  knights,  and  train  bands  of  fighting 
men.  The  other  large  temples  followed  suit,  and  the 
lay  people  of  Japan  had  the  undesirable  privilege,  several 
times  during  these  centuries,  of  beholding  armies  of 
"  religious  "  persons  engaging  in  fratricidal  strife,  killing, 
burning,  and  laying  waste. 

In  the  mean  time  there  was  growing  up  in  Japan  an 
upper  middle  class,  closely  connected  with  the  aristocracy, 
and  yet  independent  of  them,  and  corresponding  very 
nearly  to  our  English  gentry. 

It  had  been  the  practice,  both  of  the  Fujiwara  and 
also,  from  time  to  time,  of  the  Emperors  themselves,  to 
raise  money  for  political  or  religious  purposes  by  the  sale 
of  certain  patents  (not  unlike  the  baronetcies  of  King 
James  I.),  known  as  sho-en,  which  conferred  upon  their 
holders  the  privilege  of  possessing  their  estates  free  from 
Imperial  taxation  and  exempt  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
provincial  governors.  Some  of  the  Emperors,  e.g.  Go- 
sanjo  (1069),  had  set  their  faces  against  this  practice ;  but 
needy  and  religious-minded  rulers,  such  as  Shirakawa 
(1073)  and  Toba  (1108),  had  been  very  lavish  in  the 
granting  of  these  patents,  and  the  holders  of  these  privi- 
leges became  an  important  element  in  the  State.  They 
formed  the  main  support  of  the  rival  factions  of  Taira  and 


264    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Minamoto,  and  even  after  Yoritomo's  formal  and  success- 
ful organization  of  their  scattered  members,  continued  to 
be,  as  samurai,  down  to  our  own  times,  the  true  backbone 
of  the  Japanese  nation.^ 

Independent,  freedom-loving,  fairly  educated,  addicted 
to  martial  exercises  and  the  outdoor  sports  which  have 
been  the  pastime  of  the  country  gentleman  in  all  ages  and 
climes,  these  men  had  absolutely  nothing  but  contempt 
for  the  sickly  sentimentalism  of  the  fashionable  priests, 
with  their  legends  and  repetitions,  and  their  somewhat 
hypocritical  prohibitions  against  hunting  and  fighting. 
That  they  were  not  devoid  of  religious  feeling  we  shall  see 
in  another  chapter.  For  the  present  let  us  note  merely 
that  they  were  coming  into  prominence  as  a  social  and 
religious  element,  qualified  to  exercise  a  determining  in- 
fluence on  the  destinies  of  their  country. 

I  have  already,  in  a  previous  chapter,  referred  to  the 
social  miseries  of  the  country  during  the  period  of  which 
many  writers  speak  as  though  it  had  been  the  golden  age 
of  Japanese  history.  With  equal  justice  might  we  speak 
of  the  reign  of  King  Stephen,  or  the  long-protracted 
miseries  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  as  having  been  the  golden 
age  of  our  English  history.  The  miseries  of  the  people, 
naturally  passed  over  by  chroniclers  whose  eyes  were 
concentrated  upon  the  precincts  of  the  Imperial  Palace, 
were  truly  great.     They  cannot  have  been  anything  else. 

I  have  also  spoken,  in  my  last  chapter,  of  the  pathetic 

figure  of  the  Odori-nembutsu,  the  poor,  half-witted,  princely 

priest,  dancing  his  way   through  the  country,  with  the 

monotonous  nembutsu  constantly  upon  his  lips,  in  the  hope 

•  Minamoto  Yoritomo,  the  first  of  the  Minamoto  Shoguns  (1147- 
1199),  organized  the  Kamakura  Bakufu,  roxmd  which  he  gathered  the 
military  elements  of  the  coxintry,  away  from  the  influence  of  the  Court 
and  priesthood.  He  is  often  spoken  of  as  Kamakura  dono.  See  next 
chapter. 


BUDDHISM   OF   THE   GEMPEI   PERIOD    265 

of  thus  awakening  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  that  sense 
of  belief  in  a  Power  higher  than  ourselves,  which  is 
man's  strongest  rock  of  confidence  in  the  hour  of  misery 
and  sorrow.  This  is  the  place  for  me  to  stop  my  narra- 
tion, and  to  give  my  readers  a  digression  (I  fear  it  may 
be  a  long  one)  on  the  subject  of  the  nembutsu. 

Nemhutsu  means  "  thinking  of  Buddha "  ;  the  Nem- 
butsu to  which  I  refer  is  the  popular  Japanese  contraction 
for  the  phrase  Namu-Amida-hutsu,  which  is  half  Sanskrit 
and  half  Chinese,  and  means  "  Glory  to  the  Buddha  Ami- 
tabha,"  the  Buddha  to  whom  I  have  already  so  often 
referred  in  the  course  of  this  present  work. 

Amitabha,  "the  Buddha  of  Infinite  Light,"  or  Ami- 
tayus,  "  the  Buddha  of  Infinite  Life "  (the  two  are 
identical  in  Japan,  though,  I  believe,  treated  as  distinct 
personages  in  Thibet),  is  preached  in  certain  Sutras  ^  of 

•  These  Sutras  are  known  in  Sanskrit  as  the  greater  and  Lesser 
Suhhavati  Vyuha,  and  the  Amitdyur-dhyani  Sutra,  the  two  former 
extant  both  in  Sanskrit  and  Chinese,  the  last  in  Chinese  only.  All 
three  claim  to  be  Sutras  spoken  by  the  Buddha  himself,  but  no  trace 
of  them  can  be  found  prior  to  a.d,  147,  when  Anshikao  and  his  associ- 
ates took  one  of  them  to  China — not  from  India,  but  from  Central  Asia 
— nor  is  there  any  written  evidence  of  a  belief  in  Amida  before  the 
times  of  As'vaghosha  and  Nagarjuna,  say  about  the  latter  end  of  the 
first  century  a.d.  Shortly  after  commencing  this  chapter  I  had  an 
interview  with  a  Buddhist  priest,  now  deceased,  whose  conversation 
on  this  subject  was  extremely  interesting.  According  to  him,  no  Bud- 
dhist Sutras,  whether  Mahayana  or  Hinayana,  were  reduced  to  writing 
for  the  first  five  centuries  after  Buddha's  death.  (There  is  some  sup- 
port for  this  view  in  Singhalese  tradition,  though  it  does  not  quite 
agree  with  the  evidence  of  As'oka's  inscriptions.)  Prom  the  beginning 
of  the  sixth  Buddhist  century  began  the  writing  down  of  the  various 
Sutras,  which  had  till  then  been  traditional  only.  Oral  tradition  is, 
however,  extremely  liable  to  corruption  and  change,  and  thus  there  had 
arisen  discrepancies,  between  North  and  South  in  general,  and  between 
difierent  parts  of  the  North  in  particular.  In  this  way,  he  said,  had 
been  framed  the  two  "Vehicles  ;  but  it  could  not  be  affirmed  that  either 
of  them  was  older  than  the  other.  The  literary  forms  in  which  both 
Vehicles  are  enshrined  are  coeval,  and  both  are  late,  as  late  as  the 


266    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

the  Mahayana,  to  which  I  have  already  had  occasion 
to  refer,  as  the  Supreme  Being  of  a  certain  section  of 
Buddhists.  Amida  is  without  beginning  and  without  end, 
all  love,  wisdom,  benevolence,  and  power.  He  is  the 
Father  ^  of  all  the  world  and  of  all  sentient  beings.     In 

Christian  era.  No  Christian  controversialist  could  ask  for  more  gene- 
rous concessions  than  these. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  some  of  my  readers  to  know  that  since  the 
end  of  1910, 1  have  been  engaged,  together  with  some  Buddhist  friends 
in  Tokyo,  on  a  work  of  translation  of  early  Buddhist  documents  which 
may  lead  to  some  interesting  developments.  Our  present  immediate  ob- 
jective is  to  work  out  a  translation  into  some  European  language  of  all 
the  Indian  books  translated  into  Chinese  during  the  Han  period,  i.e.  a.d. 
147  and  a.d.  220.  When  these  have  been  translated  (it  will  take  several 
years  to  accomplish),  we  hope  that  we  shall  be  able  to  give  to  the  world 
a  tolerably  complete  picture  of  what  Buddhism  was  like  when  first 
introduced  into  China.  We  also  hope  that  we  may  be  able  to  throw  some 
light  on  Gnosticism  and  the  developments  of  Christian  heresy  during 
the  second  and  third  centuries. 

But  more  interesting  matter  for  translation  will  probably  be  found 
in  the  works  of  Japanese  theologians  of  the  eleventh,  twelfth,  and 
thirteenth  centuries,  a  field  as  yet  untouched  by  European  research. 
We  are  learning  to-day  to  see  that  Christ's  work  was  far  larger  than 
anything  that  our  forefathers  of  even  a  century  ago  ever  dreamt  of, 
and  to  comprehend  that  each  nation  will  contribute  and  is  contributing 
its  quota  to  the  Perfect  Temple  of  the  Future,  and  that  no  Spiritual 
Building  can  be  expected  to  be  final  which  does  not  make  adequate 
allowance  for  the  glory  and  honour  of  all  nations  to  be  brought  in. 

'  Mr.  Tada  Kanae,  in  his  excellent  volume  of  "  Lectures  on  the 
Shoshinge  "  (pp.  54,  56),  says  that  Amida  may  also  be  called  the  Creator, 
inasmuch  as  he  established  the  Law  of  Cause  and  ESect  through  which 
the  Universe  came  into  existence.  Some  Buddhists,  however,  are  not 
willing  to  grant  this.  They  say  that  the  law  came  into  action  auto- 
matically from  the  very  nature  of  Shinnyo,  and  that  in  no  case  are  we 
justified  in  considering  Amida  as  a  Creator.  That  he  is  the  Father  is 
freely  admitted  by  all  Shinshuists.  A  Japanese  theologian  (I  think  I 
may  give  Dr.  Anezaki  that  title,  though  he  is  a  Buddhist)  pointed  out 
to  me  a  short  time  ago  that  the  first  draft  of  the  Nicene  Creed  ran, 
iruTTfid)  fls  fva  Sthv  Tlarfpa  leavroKpiropa  vivruv  dparQv  re  koI  iopiruy :  "  I 
believe  in  one  God,  the  Father,  Almighty  Ruler  of  all  things  visible  and 
invisible,"  and,  according  to  Rufinus,  there  was  a  similar  omission  of 


BUDDHISM   OF   THE   GEMPEI    PERIOD   267 

ages  incalculably  remote  he  appeared  in  various  forms 
among  men,  all  his  incarnations  being  to  bring  salvation 
to  mankind.  In  his  last  incarnation  he  appeared  as  the 
Bhikshu  Hozo  (Dharmakara),  and  as  such  registered  a 
vow  that  should  the  Perfect  Consummation  of  the  Bud- 
dhahood  ever  be  in  his  power,  he  would  not  accept  deliver- 
ance unless  such  deliverance  should  also  mean  the  salvation 
of  suffering  mankind.  In  fulfilment  of  that  vow  he  en- 
dured much  suffering  and  many  agonies,  but  he  triumphed 
in  the  end,  and  the  fruit  of  his  labours  has  been  the  open- 
ing of  a  Paradise  in  a  Pure  Land,  into  which  all  may 
enter  who  call  upon  his  name  with  Faith.^  Other  Bud- 
dhas  also  have  spoken  of  Paradise ;  ^  Amida  alone  can 
speak  of  it  as  my  Paradise. 

JLmida  is  Ichi-huisu,  the  One  Buddha,  and  besides  Him 
there  is  none,  for  all  the  other  Buddhas  and  Bodhisattvas 
and  gods,  in  whom  men  trust,  are  but  temporary  and 
partial  manifestations  of  the  Great  Father,  whose  Yow  (a 
Chi'istian  might  call  it  his  Will)  is  that  all  mankind  should 
be  saved — saved  from  the  miseries  of  existence,  from  all 
those  universals  of  misery  which  S'akyamuni  disclosed  to 
a  suffering  world,  and  placed  in  that  Paradise  where  there 
is  nothing  to  hinder  or  to  hurt  the  soul  on  its  upward 
path  to  that  Perfection  which  comes  from  the  Beatific 
Vision  of  Amida  Himself.* 

an  expression  of  belief  in  a  Creator  in  the  Greed  of  the  Church  of 
Aquileia  ("  Lib.  post-Nicene  Fathers,"  vol.  iii.  p.  541). 

*  See  "  S.B.E.,"  vol.  xlix.,  and  my  "  Praises  of  Amida,"  Introd., 
pp.  1,  2. 

*  E.g.  Yakushi  (Bhaishajyaraja). 

*  According  to  the  Pure  Land  books,  there  is  a  nine-graded  Vision  of 
Amida  vouchsafed  to  the  soul  in  Paradise,  and  the  Vision  itself,  as  it 
grows  in  intensity,  has  a  purifying  effect  on  the  soul.  I  may  point  out 
that  the  eighty-one  previous  Buddhas  in  the  Sukhavati  Vyuha  are  but 
an  amplification  of  this  ninefold  Amida,  which  again  is  an  amplification 
of  a  Trinity. 


268    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Amida  is  One  and  Indivisible,  but  He  has  several 
names,  and  two  of  the  names  by  which  He  is  known 
amcngst  men  have  become  personified  with  a  quasi-separate 
existence  as  His  Sons,  and  sit,  the  one  on  His  right,  the 
other  on  His  left,  in  His  Kingdom.  The  right  represents 
His  Wisdom,  the  left  His  Mercy  ;  the  latter  is  occupied 
by  His  Son  Avalokites'vara,  or  Kwannon,  "  the  Lord  that 
looked  down,"  incarnate  again  and  again  for  man  and  his 
salvation  ;  the  former,  personified  as  Mahasthamaprapta,  or 
Seishi,  whose  gift  to  man  is,  significantly,  not  salvation, 
but  me} 

To  grasp  this  salvation,  wrought  out  for  man  by 
Amida,  and  brought  to  him  by  Kwannon  and  Seishi, 
nothing  is  needed  but  Faith — no  works  of  the  Law, 
no  austerities,  penances,  or  devotions,  no  resolutions  of 
amendment,  no  futile  strivings,  no  repentance — nothing 
but  Faith.  It  sounds  an  immoral  doctrine,  a  kind  of 
antinomianism,  yet  it  is  not  exactly  immoral  as  ex- 
pounded, at  least  by  its  latest  preachers,  the  school  of 
Shinran  and  his  disciples.  For  faith  brings  salvation,'  the 
realization  of  salvation  arouses  the  gratitude  of  the  heart, 
and  the  grateful  heart,  knowing  what  it  is  by  nature  and 
what  it  has  become  by  grace,  becomes  so  filled  with  the 
expansive  power  of  a  deep  love  that  it  turns  the  good 
deeds,  the  austerities,  the  devotions,  from  being  fruitless 
attempts  at  obtaining  a  salvation  which  is  practically 
beyond  man's  attainment  into  the  joyful  formulae  through 
which  the  new  life  imparted  to  the  soul  finds  its  expres- 
sion. 

Shinran  Shonin  (a.d.  1174  to  1268),  the  founder  of  the 

*  I  learned  this  in  conversation  with  a  Buddhist  priest.  I  can  but 
repeat  here  what  I  have  said  elsewhere,  that  the  Ophite  Gnostics  who 
appeared  in  the  same  localities  and  at  the  same  time  as  the  original 
Amida  Buddhists,  held  identical  language  about  Christ. 


BUDDHISM   OF  THE  GEMPEI   PERIOD    269 

Shinshu  sect,  who  claimed  for  his  teachings  the  authority 
of  a  Vision  of  Avalokites'vara  himself/  has  left  behind  him, 
amongst  other  works,  a  poem  entitled  the  "  Shoshinge," 
which  is  even  now  in  common  use  in  the  family  devotions 
of  pious  Shinshu  households.  A  writer  to  whom  I  am  very 
much  indebted  for  the  insight  which  he  has  given  me  into 
the  thoughts  and  aspirations  of  the  band  of  Buddhist 
reformers  who  owe  their  inspiration  to  the  life  and  teach- 
ings of  the  late  Mr.  Kyozawa,^  has  written  a  commentary 
on  the  poem,  which,  while  being  up  to  date,  as  coming 
from  a  modern  scholar,  yet  represents  the  very  thoughts 
of  Shinran,  the  last  great  patriarch  of  mediaeval  Amidaism 
in  Japan. 

Mr.  Tada's  book,  following  the  lines  of  Shinran's  poem, 
gives  us,  first,  a  series  of  chapters  on  the  Doctrine  of 
Amida ;  on  the  connection  between  Amida  and  S'akyamuni, 
on  the  history,  authenticity,  and  genuineness  of  the  Sutras 
on  which  the  Amidaists  build  their  Faith  (he  considers 
them  genuine  records  of  S'akyamuni's  teachings  secretly 
and  unofficially  handed  down  in  South  India  during  the  five 
centuries  of  silence  which  followed  S'akyamuni's  death, 
but  brings  no  proof  for  his  statements),  and  then  proceeds 
to  treat,  in  several  chapters,  of  the  Invocation  of  Amida's 
Sacred  Name  and  of  the  New  Life  of  courage,  enthusiasm, 
and  hope  which  comes  to  us  through  prayer  and  adoration. 

*  It  is  said  that  two  points  in  the  Buddhist  discipline  caused 
Shinran  a  great  deal  of  anxious  reflection — celibacy,  and  the  abstinence 
from  flesh.  He  claimed  that  Avalokites'vara  had  appeared  to  him  in  a 
vision,  and  had  taught  him  that  these  points  were  not  of  the  Essence 
of  religion.  Shinshu  believers  all  eat  meat,  and  the  Shinshu  clergy  are 
free  to  marry. 

'  Kyozawa,  a  Shinshu  priest,  who  died  but  a  few  years  ago,  may  be 
said  to  have  given  Shinshuism  a  new  impetus,  in  a  direction  almost 
Christian.  His  memory  is  still  venerated  by  a  group  of  very  earnest 
Shinshu  priests.  I  give  a  translsition  of  the  Shoshinge  in  my  "  Shinran 
and  His  Work." 


270    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

He  then  devotes  another  series  of  chapters  to  the  con- 
sideration of  seven  great  names  which  Shinran  had  selected 
as  embracing  the  whole  history  of  Amidaism  from  its  first 
inception  to  Shinran's  time,  and,  having  thus  surveyed 
the  whole  of  the  ground  covered  by  the  Shoshinge,  pro- 
ceeds to  base  thereon  a  concluding  exhortation  to  his 
readers  on  present  duties  and  prospects. 

The  names  are  selected  from  India,  China,  and  Japan. 
The  Indian  patriarchs  are  Nagarjuna  and  Vasubandhu; 
those  from  China,  Donran,  Doshaku,  and  Zendo;  those 
from  Japan,  Genshin  and  Genku.  Each  name  has  two 
chapters  devoted  to  it,  one  biographical  and  one  doctrinal, 
and  the  author  has  cleverly  constructed  his  doctrinal 
chapters  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  that  there  has  been  a 
regular  and  consistent  development  all  the  way  from  Nagar- 
juna  to  Shinran,  who  brought  the  system  to  its  perfection.^ 

Thus  in  Nagarjuna  the  doctrine  is  vague :  no  mention 
is  made  of  the  Sutras  which  tell  of  Amida,  but  Nagarjuna 
dies  with  his  face  set  to  the  Western  Paradise,  and  there 
are  passages  in  his  works  which  foreshadow  the  doctrine. 
In  Vasubandhu,  we  get  a  step  further :  the  mystic  teacher 
knows  of  the  book  which  contains  the  description  of 
Paradise,  and,  whilst  not  giving  himself  up  wholly,  to  the 
exclusion  of  every  other  cult,  to  the  worship  of  Amitabha, 
still  puts  Amitabha  at  the  top  of  the  Buddhist  pantheon. 
In  the  chapters  on  the  Chinese  Patriarchs  we  are  shown 
how  one  of  them  was  attracted  to  Amidaism  by  its  sim- 
plicity. The  multiplicity  of  the  doctrines  in  the  other 
books  had  confused  his  mind ;  here  was  something  easy 
and  intelligible  and  within  his  reach.  The  other  had 
been  long  seeking  for  the  Elixir  of  Life,  had  dabbled  in 

»  Mr.  Tada  gives  the  dates  of  the  seven  as  follows ;  (1)  Nagarjuna, 
about  A.D.  150 ;  (2)  "Vasubandhu,  circ.  a.d.  440 ;  (3)  Donran,  drc.  a.d. 
866 ;  (4)  Doshaku,  A.D.  653 ;  (5)  Zendo,  a.d.  614 ;  (6)  Genshin,  a.d.  943 ; 
and  finally  G^nku  |Hdnen^,  a.d.  1130-1213, 


BUDDHISM   OF  THE   GEMPEI   PERIOD    271 

medicine  and  in  magic,  and  had  several  times  imagined 
himself  to  be  on  the  point  of  discovering  the  formula 
wherewith  to  cheat  death,  yet  his  search  had  been  in  vain. 
In  a  moment  of  despondency  arising  from  one  of  his 
numerous  failures  he  came  across  Bodhiruci,  a  Buddhist 
priest  of  fame.  "  What  ? "  said  Bodhiruci,  "  you  are  seek- 
ing for  eternal  life  ?  I  will  give  you  the  secret."  And 
handing  him  the  books  which  contained  the  descriptions 
of  Amida's  Paradise  and  of  salvation  through  faith  in  His 
Name,  he  bade  him  read  and  believe.  The  man  did  so, 
and  in  due  course  became  one  of  the  most  successful  of 
the  Apostles  of  Amida  in  China. 

In  Japan,  the  Shinshuist  notes  with  pride  that  the 
first  image  sent  over  by  the  King  of  Kudara  in  the  sixth 
century  was  one  of  Amida,  with  his  satellites,  Kwannon 
and  Seishi.  The  first  Japanese  patriarch  on  Shinran's 
list,  Genshin,^  was  attracted,  as  had  been  one  of  his 
Chinese  predecessors,  by  the  simplicity  of  the  doctrine 
and  its  adaptability  to  the  needs  of  simple  persons. 
Ere  Genshin  died  the  troubles  of  Japan  had  begun,  and 
in  the  midst  of  those  troubles  the  sound  of  Nembutsu 
from  many  a  troubled  heart  was  a  cry  of  pathetic  and 
half-despairing  faith.  Such  was  the  cry  of  the  Odori- 
nembutsu,  to  whom  we  have  already  alluded,  and  that  of 
Eyonen   Shonin,''  to  whom  Amida  appeared  in  a  vision 

*  Oenshin  (942-1017),  bom  in  Yamato,  of  the  Urabe  family,  became 
a  member  of  the  ffieizan  commmiity,  being  a  disciple  of  Byogen,  from 
whom  he  learned  something  about  Amitabha,  which  he  afterwards 
mEkde  into  the  principle  of  his  life  and  teaching. 

*  Ryonen  Shonin  (1072-1132),  founder  of  the  so-called  Yudzu- 
nembutsu  sect,  which  is  still  in  existence.  He  was  a  monk  of  Hieizan ; 
was  warned  by  a  stranger,  whom  he  took  to  be  Amida,  to  flee  from  the 
"  den  of  thieves  "  in  which  he  was  living,  and  to  turn  the  Nembutsu 
into  an  intercessory  prayer.  Ichinin,  issainin,  issainin,  icki/nin,  ichigyd, 
issaigyo ;  issaigyo,  ichigyo,  "  One  man  for  all  men,  all  men  summarized 
in  One ;  one  devotion  for  all,  all  devotions  summed  up  in  one." 


2/2    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

and  bade  him  leave  the  Hieizan  monastery,  as  being 
a  den  of  thieves.  Eyonen  and  the  Odori-nembutsu  ^ 
both  became  founders  of  small  sects,  which,  however, 
never  succeeded  in  winning  a  very  large  amount  of 
popularity.  It  is  the  merit  of  Genku,  better  known  as 
Honen  Shonin,  to  have  successfully  established  a  definite 
sect  of  the  Pure  Land  in  Japan ;  of  Shinran,  his  greater 
disciple,  to  have  brought  the  system  to  its  perfection. 

Genku  was  converted  by  a  death-scene.  It  was  in 
the  time  of  the  Civil  Wars;  and  Genku's  father  was 
attacked  by  bandits  in  his  house,  and  after  a  brave 
defence,  mortally  wounded.  The  mother  and  her  child 
escaped  to  a  place  of  safety,  and  when  the  bandits  had 
cleared  off,  returned  to  the  house,  where  they  found  the 
father  dying.  "  You  must  forgive  your  enemies,  my  son," 
said  the  dying  man ;  "  there  is  no  end  to  vengeance  and 
vendetta,  for  wrath  begets  wrath,  and  only  forgiveness 
can  heal  it."  The  lesson  sank  into  the  boy's  mind ;  he 
became  a  monk,  and  might  have  risen  to  high  honour 
in  the  wealthy  and  purse-proud  Tendai  sect,  had  he  not 
preferred  the  simplicity  of  his  Amida  faith  to  the  noisy 
worldliness  of  Hieizan.^  He  suffered  for  his  convictions, 
yet  succeeded  in  establishing  a  sect  known  as  the  Jodo,^ 

'  Kuya,  the  Odori-nembutsu,  is  looked  upon  as  the  founder  of  the 
small  sect  of  Ji,  which  is,  however,  more  generally  identified  with  the 
name  of  Ippen-Osho  (1239-1289).  Ippen,  like  Kuya,  was  an  itinerant 
preacher,  and  to  this  day  the  head  of  the  Ji  sect,  which  has  its  chief 
temple  at  Fujisawa  on  the  Tokaido,  is  supposed  to  spend  all  his  time 
in  itineracy,  Cf.  the  Nestorian  institution  of  the  periodeutes,  or 
itinerant  preacher. 

*  For  a  sympathetic  account  of  the  "  Buddhist  St.  Francis,"  as 
Honen  has  been  called,  see  Prof.  Anezaki's  paper  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  International  Congress  of  the  History  of  Religions  (Oxford :  1908). 
When  Honen  was  first  sent  to  Hieizan,  his  parish  priest  wrote  of  him 
to  the  Abbot  of  the  monastery,  "I  am  sending  you  a  miniature  of 
Manju6ri." 

*  His  chosen  place  of  retirement  was  Kurodani,  near  Kyoto. 


BUDDHISM   OF  THE   GEMPEI   PERIOD    273 

which  still  reveres  him  as  its  founder.  The  memory  of 
his  father's  death  seems  to  have  remained  with  him  all 
his  life,  for  the  Amidaism  which  he  taught  was  ars 
moriendi  rather  than  ars  vivendi.  "  At  the  hour  of  death, 
.  .  .  good  Xprd  deliver  us  "  is  practically  the  cry  of  the 
Jodo  believer,  and  if  at  that  solemn  hour  his  faith  in 
Amida  is  pure  and  clear,  and  the  Nembutsu  rises  to  his 
lips,  he  believes  that  Amida  will  come  to  save  him,^  no 
matter  what  may  have  been  the  character  of  his  previous 
life.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  Jodoist,  if  he  is  sincere  and 
earnest,  does  not  neglect  the  spiritual  duties  of  his 
religion.  They  cannot  save  him  (no  more  can  any  good 
works),  but  they  help  to  create  and  keep  alive  in  him 
that  faith  in  Amida  which  is  of  such  prime  importance 
to  him  at  the  psychological  moment.  But  after  all,  when 
the  hour  of  death  comes,  the  centurion  Cornelius  would 
be  no  better  off  than  the  dying  thief,  in  Genku's  teaching. 
Shinran,  on  the  contrary,  saw  that  the  dying  thief 
was  an  exception  to  the  rule  of  salvation.  Like  his 
master,  Genku,  he  made  Faith  in  Amida's  Vow  the  abso- 
lute and  only  essential  to  salvation,  but  the  Faith  requisite 
is  not  of  the  death-bed  variety.  It  must  be  the  Faith  of 
a  lifetime,  and  where  that  Faith  exists  nothing  more  is 
necessary.'^     Penances,  austerities,  abstinence  from  flesh 

'  In  Jodo  circles,  when  a  believer  lies  dying,  a  picture  of  Amida  la 
hung  up  on  the  wall  in  some  conspicuous  place  where  the  patient  can 
easily  see  it.  From  the  picture  a  cord  is  taken  to  the  bed  and  fastened 
to  the  dying  man's  wrist,  so  that  when  the  supreme  agony  comes  he 
may  take  fast  hold  of  Amida  and  not  let  go  till  he  stands  in  safety  on 
the  other  side.  The  practice  is  quite  analogous  to  that  of  holding  the 
crucifix  before  the  eyes  of  the  dying. 

*  There  is  a  well-known  scene  in  the  life  of  Shinran.  Whilst  still 
one  of  Hunen's  disciples,  there  was  a  dispute  as  to  Salvation.  Shinran 
maintained  that  Faith  was  necessary  as  well  as  the  Invocation  of  the 
Name ;  the  others  maintained  that  Invocation  alone  sufficed.  AH  sided 
against  Shinran  except  one  layman.  During  the  discussion  Honen 
entered  the  room,  and  at  once  declared  himself  on  the  gide  of  Shinran. 

^  T 


274    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

or  marriage,  works  of  piety  and  charity — none  of  these 
things  will  save  a  man,  but  the  man  who  has  realized  the 
truth  of  his  salvation  through  the  mercies  of  Amida,  will, 
out  of  joy  and  gratefulness,  do  more  than  he  would  ever 
have  done  merely  as  a  means  to  gaining  salvation  for 
himself.  To  this  doctrine  of  salvation  by  Faith  the  Shin- 
shu  sect  has  remained  constantly  faithful.  I  have  often 
been  told  that  Shinran  was  acquainted  with  Christian 
doctrines  when  he  framed  the  system  of  Jodo  Shinshu. 
From  what  I  have  been  able  to  put  before  my  readers 
in  the  course  of  this  history,  I  think  we  may  say  that 
the  probabilities  are  that  he  was.^ 

'  We  have  seen  how  close  was  the  contact  between  Amidaism  and 
Christianity  in  the  China  of  the  Tang  period,  when  Zendo  and  Olopen 
worked  side  by  side  in  Singanfu,  and  again  later,  when  Prajna  and  the 
Deacon  Adam  were  collaborators  in  the  translations  of  religious  works. 
We  can  hardly  say  of  Zendo  and  Prajna  that  they  were  ignorant  of 
Christianity.  Neither  can  we  say  it  of  the  Nara  Court  at  the  time 
when  the  Nestorian  physician  Rimitsu  came  over  and  was  honoured 
with  official  rank.  Nor  again  can  we  say  it  of  Kobo  Daishi,  or  of 
Dengyo,  the  Japanese  founders  of  the  Shingon  and  Tendai.  The  former 
was  at  Singanfu  and  was  a  friend  of  Prajna  the  collaborator;  the  latter 
had  been  at  Singanfu,  where  he  must  have  seen  the  celebrated  Singanfu 
monument.  The  greater  part  of  his  time  in  China  he  spent  on  Mount 
Tendai  as  a  student  of  religion,  and  the  Chinese  Tendai  had  been 
amongst  the  great  instigators  of  the  persecution  against  Zendo  and  the 
Nestorians.  Zendo's  books  came  over  to  Japan  more  than  once  between 
796  and  858,  and  Zendo's  books  contain  some  very  striking  Pauline 
echoes.  And  what  are  we  to  say  of  Kiiya's  answer,  when  questioned  of  the 
glory  of  the  life  to  come,  "  What  I  shall  be  I  know  not  now :  I  shall  know 
hereafter  "  ?  Or  of  Genshin's  metal  mirror,  "  in  which  he  could  see  his 
face  darkly  "  ?  Or  of  Kakuhan's  definition  of  Butsu  (f^),  "  He  is  higher 
than  the  territorial  prince,  higher  than  the  Emperor,  higher  than 
the  Brahma,  and  He  is  a  Trinity  "  ?  Or  of  Myoe's  refusal  of  an  offer  of 
wealth,  "  I  have  food  and  raiment ;  I  am  content "  ?  The  Spirit  of 
Christianity  breathes  in  these  men ;  there  was  spiritual  affinity  if  even 
there  was  no  physical  contact.  The  whole  of  Shinran's  system,  his 
permission  of  clerical  marriage,  his  hereditary  episcopates,  savours 
strongly  of  Nestorianism. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

The  Buddhism  of  Kamakura 

Kamakura  is  connected  with  Yoritomo  and  the  Eegents 
of  the  Hojo  family.  Yoritomo,  the  first  of  the  Minamoto 
Shoguns  (1147-1199),  was  the  son  of  that  Yoshitomo  who, 
after  leaguing  himself  with  the  Taira  against  his  own  clan, 
and  bearing  arms  against  his  own  father,  ended  by  breaking 
with  the  Taira  for  their  want  of  gratitude,  and  perished 
miserably  at  the  hands  of  one  of  his  own  retainers,  who 
hoped  to  earn  the  favour  of  Kiyomori  by  sending  him  the 
head  of  his  misguided  master. 

His  wife,  Tokiwa  Gozen,  who  had  once  been  a  consort 
of  the  Emperor  Konoe,  and  had  escaped  with  her  three 
children  from  the  massacre  in  which  her  husband  had 
perished,  sacrificed  her  own  person  ^to  the  vindictive 
Kiyomori,  in  order  thereby  to  save  the  three  children 
whom  she  had  borne  to  Yoshitomo.  One  of  these  children 
was  Yoritomo;  the  other  was  Yoshitsune,  the  favourite 
hero  of  Japanese  history  and  romance. 

Yoritomo  was  about  thirteen  years  old  when  his  father 
died.  His  mother's  self-sacrifice  induced  Kiyomori  to 
spare  him;  but  he  was  banished  to  Izu,  where  he  did 
not  behave  very  well ;  though  he  managed  to  secure  the 
affections  of  his  guardian's  daughter,  the  beautiful  and 
capable  Masa-ko,  who  ran  away  from  home  to  join  her 
lover  on  the  outbreak  of  his  war  against  the  Taira,  and 
who  may  be  said  to  have  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Hojo 


2;6    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

family,  by  procuring  for  her  father  the  nomination  to  the 
office  of  Eegent  (Shikken).  Yoritomo's  arms  were  suc- 
cessful ;  he  and  his  associates  defeated  the  Taira  partisans 
at  Ichi-no-tani  (1184),  at  Yashima  (1184),  and  finally  at 
Dan-no-ura  (1185),  after  which  he  found  himself  prac- 
tically master  of  Japan,  being  invested  in  1192  with  the 
title  of  Sei-i-tai  Shogun,  a  title  which  for  seven  successive 
centuries  continued  to  designate  the  personage  in  whose 
hands  nominally  lay  the  practical  administrative  and 
military  power  in  Japan. 

But  long  before  that,  in  the  early  part  of  his  campaigns, 
after  his  defeat  at  Ishibashiyama  in  1181,  he  had  (under 
Hojo  Tokimasa's  advice)  made  Kamakura  his  headquarters, 
and  had  there  organized  the  samurai  who  rallied  round 
the  Minamoto  standard  into  a  compact  military  body, 
which  assured  to  him  the  victory  over  his  rivals  through- 
out Japan.  The  Kamakura  Bakufu — a  state  within  a 
state — organized  by  the  genius  of  Hojo  Tokimasa — was 
to  the  rest  of  Japan  in  those  days  what  Prussia  was  to 
the  rest  of  Germany  in  1866,  better  organized,  better 
drilled,  better  disciplined,  and  it  was  thanks  to  the  Hojo 
genius  that  the  Minamoto  secured  the  hegemony  of  the 
Empire. 

When  Yoritomo  died,  in  1199,  his  widow,  Masako,  who 
knew  the  impetuous  stormy  character  of  the  Minamoto 
family,  took  precautions  to  preserve  from  destruction  the 
system  which  her  father  at  Kamakura  had  elaborated 
with  so  much  care  and  forethought.  Yoritomo's  son, 
Yoriie,  was  indeed  put  in  his  father's  place,  and  in  1202 
invested  with  the  title  of  Sei-i-tai-shogun ;  but  he  was 
restricted  in  his  liberty  by  a  Council  of  State,  appointed 
to  assist  him  in  his  functions,  and  the  chairman  of  that 
Council  was  Hojo  Tokimasa,  who  now  received  the  title 
of  Shikken,  or  Regent.    The  Shogunate  soon  passed  out 


THE   BUDDHISM   OF   KAMAKURA      277 

of  the  feeble  hands  of  Yoritomo's  descendants;  but  the 
Hojo  Eegents  still  continued  to  exercise  their  power  in 
the  name  of  the  puppet-Shoguns,  whom  they  themselves 
nominated.  Japan  thus  beheld  the  spectacle  of  an 
Emperor  the  whole  of  whose  administrative  powers  had 
devolved  upon  a  Shogun,  who,  again,  was  but  a  puppet, 
with  all  his  functions  usurped  by  a  Eegent  who  ruled  in 
the  Shogun's  name.  Theoretically,  nothing  could  be  con- 
ceived more  hopeless  than  this  extremely  anomalous 
arrangement  of  the  government.  Practically,  the  system 
worked  with  fair  smoothness  for  over  a  century,  from 
A.D.  1200  to  1333.  The  Hojo  Eegents  were  on  the  whole 
men  of  ability,  power,  and  uprightness  (as  uprightness 
was  reckoned  in  those  difficult  days),  and  brought  the 
ship  of  State  to  a  safe  haven  through  some  most  dangerous 
storms.  But  they  had  nothing  to  recommend  them  except 
their  own  personal  qualities.  Takatoki,  the  ninth  and  last 
of  the  Eegents,  was  weak  and  dissolute,  and  his  enemies 
promptly  seized  the  opportunity  to  overthrow  the  Hojo 
house.  The  Emperor  Godaigo  was  a  strong  man,  and 
powerfully  supported  by  the  Tendai  monks  from  Hieizan. 
For  a  brief  space  the  Imperial  House  became  the  ruling 
power;  the  Eegency  was  abolished,  the  puppet-Shoguns 
disappeared,  and  a  new  succession  of  actual  Shoguns  (of 
the  Ashikaga  House)  was  inaugurated  in  1338,  residing 
once  more  in  Kyoto.     The  day  of  Kamakura  was  over. 

The  Hoj5  Eegents  were  by  no  means  indifferent  to 
the  claims  of  religion.  But  theirs  was  a  military  organiza- 
tion, supported  by  all  that  was  best  and  most  practical 
among  the  military  classes  of  Japan,  and  neither  Tendai, 
Shingon,  nor  Jodo  was  robust  enough  to  attract  the  spirit 
of  a  true  soldier  (for  the  term  "  soldier  "  could  scarcely  be 
applied  to  the  fighting  men  who  fattened  on  the  revenues 
of  the  Hieizan  and  similar  temples,  and  fought  the  battles 


278    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

of  the  Avorldly  priests).  The  Hojo  found  in  the  Zen  sects 
the  particular  form  of  Buddhism  that  suited  them  best. 

The  Zen  sects  (there  are  three  in  Japan)  derive  their 
separate  existence  from  a  celebrated  Indian  priest,  Bodhi- 
dharma,  who  arrived  in  China  in  the  year  526  a.d.,  just 
two  years  before  the  foundation  of  the  Benedictine  Order 
in  Europe. 

It  was  in  India  a  period  of  religious  strife  and  con- 
fusion. The  Hindus  were  protesting,  vigorously  and 
successfully,  against  Mahayana  and  Hinayana  alike,  and 
were  gradually  absorbing  into  their  own  systems  all  that 
was  good  in  the  Buddhist  religion.^  A  great  opposition 
(we  might  better  call  it  a  persecution  ^)  was  being  raised 
against  the  "  sons  of  S'akyamuni,"  and  many  Buddhist 
priests  found  it  convenient  to  leave  India  and  seek  refuge 
abroad.  Many  of  them  found  their  way  to  China,  which 
was  then  divided  into  two  rival  kingdoms,  of  the  north 
under  the  Wei,  of  the  south  under  the  Sung,  with 
several  minor  principalities.  Both  dynasties  favoured 
the  Buddhist  religion,  partly,  it  may  be  presumed,  for 
political  reasons,  and  many  embassies  came  from  India 
and  Central  Asia  to  ask  for  the  assistance  of  China, 
the  leading  Buddhist  power  in  Asia.  The  prince  of  the 
"Wei,  like  Shotoku  Taishi,  lectured  publicly  on  Buddhism, 
but  his  Confucianist  subjects  observed  that  his  Buddhist 
principles  did  not  prevent  him  from  waging  an  active 
war  against  the  neighbouring  principality  of  the  Liang. 
In  the  early  years  of  the  sixth  century  it  was  estimated 

'  It  was  this  absorption  into  Hinduism  of  Buddhistic  elements 
which  enabled  it  to  overcome  the  Faith  of  S'akyamuni.  To  the 
present  day  a  great  deal  of  Buddhism  may  be  found  lurking  in  the 
popular  cults  of  India,  and  the  Japanese  Buddhist  finds  himself  more 
in  sympathy  with  the  Hindu  than  he  does  with  his  brother  Buddhist 
in  Ceylon. 

*  E.g.  the  one  instituted  by  Mihirakula. 


THE   BUDDHISM   OF   KAMAKURA        279 

that  there  were  over  three  thousand  refugee  Indian 
missionaries  at  work  in  China.  It  was  observed  with 
concern  that  there  was  a  tremendous  multiplication  of 
Mahayana  books,  many  of  them  evidently  spurious,  and 
the  rapid  spread  of  magical  arts  among  the  Buddhists 
was  very  rightly  viewed  as  a  matter  of  very  iU  omen. 
The  early  "  harmonists "  (as  they  may  be  called)  were 
trying  to  bring  order  out  of  the  chaos  by  constructing 
schemes  of  S'akyamuni's  life  and  ministry  which  might 
embrace  the  whole  of  this  wide  cycle  of  doctrines 
and  scriptures.  The  predecessors  of  Chisha  Daishi,  the 
founder  of  the  Chinese  Tendai,  were  already  hard  at 
work  in  framing  their  philosophy  of  religion.  But  the 
temporal  authorities  of  the  time  had  other  and  more 
drastic  measures.  In  A.D.  515  the  rulers  of  the  Wei 
put  to  death  a  number  of  Chinese  Buddhist  priests  for 
practising  magical  arts ;  in  518  the  Wei  Government 
dispatched  two  commissioners  to  India  to  report  on 
religion  and  bring  back  authentic  books ;  and  in  526 
Bodhidharma  arrived  to  put  things  in  order. 

Bodhidharma  was  no  ordinary  priest.  He  was  esteemed 
amongst  the  Buddhists  as  the  twenty-eighth  Patriarch  of 
their  Church,  as  the  legitimate  successor  of  the  first 
Apostles  of  S'akyamuni,  the  rightful  occupant  of  the 
chair  in  which  Mahakasyapa  had  sat  in  the  first  Council 
immediately  after  the  Master's  death.  Troubles  in  India 
had  undoubtedly  something  to  do  with  Bodhidharma's 
visit  to  China ;  but,  apart  from  that,  he  had  undoubtedly 
also  come  to  fulfil  a  mission  of  reform.  His  visit  to 
China  had  very  much  the  same  significance  as  would 
have  that  of  an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  who  should 
undertake  a  "  mission  of  help  "  to  the  Anglican  Missions 
in  Japan. 

He  was  a  man  of  strong  will  and  character.     He  did 


280         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

not  stoop  to  flatter  kings.  When  he  first  met  the  Emperor 
Wu  of  the  Sung  Dynasty,  the  Emperor  began  to  speak 
of  the  good  works  that  he  had  done.  "  I  have  built  many 
temples,"  he  said,  "and  endowed  thousands  of  priests. 
What  merit  have  I  acquired  ? "  ^  "  None  at  all,"  was 
the  priest's  blunt  reply.  The  man  who  would  thus 
address  an  Emperor  was  not  likely  to  spare  his  own 
religious  household.  He  sat  in  the  Chair  once  occupied 
by  As'vaghosha,  Nagarjuna,  Vasubandhu,  and  the  great 
Doctors  whose  names  have  come  before  us  so  often  in 
the  course  of  this  history,  but  he  would  not  recognize 
as  genuine  the  many  works  that  claimed  to  come  from 
their  pens.^  "  You  cannot  get  Buddhism  from  books," 
was  his  contention.  "If  you  want  Enlightenment  you 
must  get  it  as  S'akyamuni  did,  as  the  great  Kasyapa 
did,  as  Nagarjuna  and  Vasubandhu  did — by  meditation. 
Books  will  only  tell  you  about  it — meditation  and  con- 
templation will  procure  it  for  you."  And  he  established 
a  discipline  of  contemplation  which  may  be  compared 
with    the    spiritual    exercises    of    St.   Ignatius   Loyola. 

1  "Tsuzoku  Bukkyo  gimon  Kaitoshu,"  vol.  iii.  p.  254.  It  is  a  book 
containing  a  vast  amount  of  information,  from  which  I  hope  in  some 
subsequent  volume  to  give  many  illustrative  extracts.  I  have  never 
seen  but  one  copy  of  it,  and  I  have  only  succeeded  in  getting  vols.  i. 
and  iii.  It  was  published  in  fairly  simple  Japanese  some  twenty 
years  ago. 

^  It  is  evident  that  this  action  on  the  part  of  Bodhidharma  materially 
strengthens  the  view  constantly  brought  forward  in  this  work,  viz. 
that  the  MahSyana  books  of  China  must  be  considered  as  of  late  origin, 
none  of  them  being  much  earlier  (if  at  all)  than  the  first  century  of 
the  Christian  era. 

Bodhidharma  evidently  held  that  many  of  the  books  were  not  in 
any  sense  Buddhist.  Some  of  them  possibly  may  have  been,  but  it 
was  impossible  to  distinguish  the  spurious  from  the  genuine,  and 
therefore  during  all  the  nine  years  of  his  stay  in  China  he  is  said 
never  once  to  have  made  a  discourse  based  on  a  Sutra. 

My  authority  is  a  long  article  on  "  Kensho-jobutsu,  by  Maruyama, 
in  vol.  iii.  of  "  Tsuzoku  Bukkyo  gimon  Kaitoshu,"  p.  498. 


THE   BUDDHISM   OF   KAMAKURA        281 

Zaa^  as  the  Japanese  call  it,  is  a  very  difficult  course 
of  contemplations,  with  suggestions  from  the  spiritual 
director  which  furnish  topics  and  hints,  but  no  more. 
When  the  postulant  has  got  through  the  course,  he  may 
have  obtained  Enlightenment,  or  he  may  not ;  he  has, 
at  any  rate,  gone  through  a  course  of  mental  discipline 
which  has  given  him  to  some  extent  the  mind  of  a  soldier. 

Such  was  the  Buddhism  which  the  Hojo  Eegents 
called  to  their  aid  when  they  were  engaged  in  making 
Kamakura  the  military  centre  of  a  reformed  Japan.  The 
Contemplative  Teaching  had,  it  is  true,  been  for  some 
time  in  the  country,  under  the  name  of  the  Busshinshu,  or 
Sect  of  Buddha's  Heart,  but  it  had  been  too  Puritanic  to 
find  favour  with  the  courtiers  of  Nara  or  Kyoto.  In  the 
year  1201,  when  Yoriie,  the  son  of  Yoritomo,  was  Shogun, 
with  his  widowed  mother  Masako  as  the  power  behind 
the  throne,  and  her  father  Hoj5  Maaamune  as  Regent  and 
Head  of  the  Kamakura  Bakufu,  Eisai  Zenshi,  the  founder 
of  the  Rinzai  Sect  of  the  Zen,  was  invited  to  establish 
himself,  first  in  Kyoto  at  the  Kenninji,  and  afterwards  at 
Kenkoji  in  Kamakura.  A  few  years  later,  between  1222 
and  1232,  Shoyo  Daishi,  or  Dogen,  as  he  was  known  to  his 
contemporaries,  founded  the  sister  sect  of  the  Soto  which 
has  its  headquarters  in  the  province  of  Echizen.^ 

The  Rinzai  and  the  Sbtb,  both  of  which  came  to  Japan 
from  the  south  of  China,  differ  in  this,  that  the  former 
depends  wholly  and  entirely  on  contemplation  as  the  sole 
means  of  obtaining  saving  Enlightenment,  while  the  latter 
adds  the  use  of  books  as  subsidiary  aids.  A  translation  of 
the  chief  manual  used  by  the  Zen  will  be  found  in  the 
published   transactions   of  the   Oxford   Congress   of  the 

^  There  is  in  Japan  a  third  Zen  sect,  known  as  the  Ohaku^  which 
was  founded  by  refugees  from  China  in  1659.  It  will  be  mentioned  in 
its  proper  place  (Chapter  XXIX.). 


282    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

History  of  Religions  (1908) ;  when,  some  twenty-five 
years  ago,  I  asked  a  Soto  priest  to  give  me  instruction,  he 
began  his  lectures  by  a  course  of  expositions  of  the 
Hannya  Shingyo,  or  Paramita  Hridaya  Sutra.  Nearly 
all  the  Soto  priests  whom  I  have  known  have  been  learned 
men ;  I  think  I  may  say  the  same  of  all  the  Rinzai  priests 
with  whom  I  have  become  acquainted.  It  is  difficult  to 
talk  with  them  on  purely  spiritual  issues,  because  they 
hold  that  Truth  is  not  communicated  orally  from  mouth 
to  ear,  but,  without  the  intermediary  of  words,  by  a  kind 
of  wireless  telegraphy  from  heart  to  heart.  Zen  wa  zeni 
nashi,  Monto  mono  wo  shiradzu.  '*  The  Zen  priests  have 
no  money,"  says  the  proverb,  "the  Monto  (Shinshu) 
priests  no  understanding." 

The  Zen  sects  have  always  been  more  or  less  in- 
fluenced by  Confucianism.  Indeed,  I  have  heard  them 
described  as  being  more  Confucianist  than  Buddhist — an 
obvious  exaggeration  of  facts.  But  the  Zen  monks  sat 
loose  to  the  teachings  of  the  Sutras,  which  their  first 
Founder  had  taught  them  to  look  on  with  suspicion,  and 
in  their  office  as  teachers  they  required  some  mental  food 
to  take  the  place  of  the  discredited  books.^  Confucianism 
had  never  been  looked  upon  in  Japan  as  being  antagonistic 
to  Buddhism,  and  Kobo  Daishi  (even  if  it  was  not  Shotoku) 
had  spoken  of  Buddhism,  Taoism  (Shinto),  and  Confucian- 
ism as  the  three  legs  of  the  tripod  on  which  rested  the 

*  The  relations  between  the  Zen  sects  and  the  other  bodies  of 
Japanese  Buddhists  is  well  illustrated  by  a  phrase  which  I  have  often 
heard  Zen  priests  use  when  speaking  of  other  sects.  They  call  them 
hoben  no  shuha,  "  The  sects  which  employ  Jioben."  Hoben  is  some- 
times translated  as  a  "  fraud,"  sometimes  as  a  "  pious  device."  Both 
phrases  are  a  little  too  strong.  Hoben  is  an  "  accommodation  of  truth 
to  the  intelligence  of  the  hearer,"  and  the  Zenshuists  declare  that  the 
anthropomorphism  of  e.g.  the  Amida  or  Vairoc'ana  sects  is  such  an 
"  accommodation  of  Truth."  They  profess  not  to  use  such  accommoda- 
tions themselves,  but  they  do  not  blame  those  that  do. 


THE   BUDDHISM   OF   KAMAKURA      283 

religious  and  temporary  welfare  of  Japan.  Confucianism 
had  from  the  earliest  times  in  historical  Japan  been 
looked  upon  as  the  religious  philosophy  of  the  man-at- 
arms  or  the  man  of  affairs,  and  the  bid  which,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Hojo  Regents,  the  Zenshu  teachers  made 
for  the  sufireiges  of  the  samurai  was  likely  to  be  all  the 
more  acceptable  if  it  came  strongly  seasoned  with  a 
Confucianist  flavour.  The  establishment  of  the  Zen 
corresponded  with  the  entry  into  China  of  the  improved 
and  refined  Confucianism  of  the  Chinese  reformer  Chtihi, 
or  Shushi  (to  give  him  his  Japanese  name),  and  the  two 
systems  may  be  said  to  have  made  common  cause  in  their 
attempts  to  influence  the  religious  thought  of  the  military 
and  governing  classes. 

Perhaps  the  most  picturesque  figure  in  the  Zen  world 
is  that  of  Hoj5  Tokiyori,  the  fifth  of  the  Kamakura 
Regents,  who  held  ofi&ce  from  1246  to  1256,  and  then 
retired  into  a  monastery,  being  henceforth  known  as 
Saimyoji  Nyudo.  But  his  retirement  was  not  in  the 
least  like  those  of  the  poor  Emperors  and  Shoguns  at 
Kyoto,  who  were  dropped  from  the  ship  for  fear  they 
should  want  to  take  part  in  the  management  of  the  vessel 
of  State.  Tokiyori  knew  that,  as  Regent,  it  was  very 
difficult  for  him  to  learn  the  true  state  of  the  country. 
He  could  only  make  State  progresses  along  roads  carefully 
swept  and  cleaned  for  his  reception,  to  see  just  what  the 
local  authorities  wanted  him  to  see.  And  the  times  made 
it  imperative  for  the  men  at  the  helm  of  State  to  have 
accurate  and  trustworthy  knowledge.  Tokiyori  accordingly 
resigned  his  Regency  in  favour  of  his  young  son  Tokimune, 
whom  he  left  in  the  care  of  trustworthy  ministers,*  donned 

•  Hojo  Nagatoki  had  been  the  governor  of  the  northern  portion 
(rokuhara)  of  Kyoto,  but  came  to  Kamakura  to  assist  his  young 
cousin. 


284         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

the  priestly  habit,  and  started  off  on  an  unofficial  tour  of 
inspection.  He  learned  a  very  great  deal,  and,  returning 
to  Kamakura,  placed  the  information  he  had  gained  at 
the  disposal  of  his  son  and  successor.  The  information 
was  most  valuable,  for  Japan  was  about  to  pass  through 
one  of  the  most  severe  crises  in  her  national  history — 
a  crisis  of  which  I  shall  speak  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

The  Zen  system  touches  the  philosophic  thought  of 
India  very  closely.  It  has  also  many  points  of  contact 
with  Confucianism.  It  recognizes  a  supreme  Being ;  but 
absolutely  refuses  to  personify  Him.  To  personify  God, 
says  the  Zenshuist,  whether  as  Vairoc'ana,  as  Amida,  as 
S'akyamuni,  or  as  Jehovah,  is  to  limit  Him.  He  cannot 
be  tied  up  to  any  form ;  He  transcends  the  widest,  highest, 
deepest  conceptions  of  the  human  mind.  Yet  the  Zen 
does  not  blame  those  who  thus  personify  God  and  by 
personifying  limit  Him.  It  recognizes  that  for  certain 
minds  personification  is  a  necessity.  The  Infinite  mind 
must  become  Finite,  in  order  that  the  Finite  mind  may 
grasp  it.  But  a  personified  God  is  nothing  but  a  hohen, 
an  adaptation  of  the  Truth  to  the  weakness  of  the  human 
intellect.  Such  personification,  it  has  been  observed, 
always  serves  to  narrow  the  mind  and  make  it  intolerant. 
The  Jew,  the  Mahometan,  the  Christian,  the  worshipper 
of  Amida,  of  S'akyamuni,  of  Vairoc'ana — all  in  turn  have 
become  dogmatic,  intolerant,  uncharitable,  and  all  for 
the  same  reason.  They  start  from  a  personal,  and  there- 
fore an  imperfect,  conception  of  God. 

In  the  same  way,  the  Zen  possesses  no  Canon  of 
Scripture.  The  Christian  has  his  Bible,  the  Mahometan 
his  Koran,  every  sect  of  Buddhism  has  formed  its  own 
little  Canon  of  Holy  Books  out  of  the  unwieldy  mass  of 
the  Tripitaka.     The  formation  of  a  canon  leads  to  loss  of 


THE   BUDDHISM   OF   KAMAKURA        285 

charity.  Certain  books  are  taken  as  representing  a  divine 
revelation ;  all  other  books  of  religion  are  judged  by  this 
arbitrary  standard,  and  whatever  does  not  agree  with  it  is 
rejected.  The  letter  of  Scripture  has  always  proved  to  be 
a  fruitful  mother  of  controversy  and  dissension.  The  Zen 
has  no  special  list  of  Sacred  Books.  It  does  not  reject 
any  Sutras  or  Abhidharmas ;  it  reads  and  values  them  for 
all  the  truths  they  contain,  but  it  sets  up  no  books  as 
being  infallible  or  beyond  criticism.  It  criticizes  freely  all 
the  Sacred  Books  of  Buddhism ;  and  it  accepts,  with  equal 
freedom  and  reverence,  the  good  books  of  all  countries. 

It   has  been  said  already  that  Zen,  whilst  rejecting 
a    personal   God,   accepts   with   reverence    a   Something 
Beyond  Knowledge,  which  lies  at  the  back  of  phenomenal 
existence.    We  can  never  know  that  Being  in  its  entirety, 
but  we  can  reach  to  Him  in  three  ways — "  feeling  after"^ 
Him,  and,  haply,  finding  Him."     We  may  look  into  our 
own  hearts,  by  introspection  and  meditation,  and  there  / 
we  shall  find   Him.     We  may  look   into   the   hearts   of  'X- 
others   by   means  of  the  Word,  spoken  or  written,  and 
there  we  shall  find  Him.     We  may  look  at  Nature,  in  ^ 
all  its    manifestations,   romantic   or   commonplace,   and  / 
there   we  shall  find   Him.     For  my  heart  is   Buddha;/ 
and   the   heart  of  my  brother  whose   books   I  read,  is 
Buddha  ;  and  Nature  in  its  entirety,  the  Infinitely  Great, 
the  Infinitely  Small,  every  star  or  comet,  every  mountain 
range  or  ocean,  every  insect,  every  leaf,  is  Buddha, 

Such  is  the  faith  of  the  Zenshuist.  For  his  daily 
conduct  he  accepts  no  infallible  guide  but  his  own 
enlightened  conscience,  which  is  one  with  the  enlightened 
conscience  of  the  universe.  For  the  details,  however, 
of  his  behaviour  he  will  follow  Confucius,  S'akyamuni, 
Epictetus,  anything  that  will  help  him  to  lead  his  daily 
life  in  a  manner  worthy  of  a  religious  philosopher. 


286    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

The  Zen,  as  taught  by  its  Japanese  founders,  Eisai 
and  Dogen,  and  as  fostered  by  the  wise  counsels  of  the 
Hojo  regents,  was  quite  a  different  religion  from  the 
miracle-mongering,  worldly,  intriguing  parody  of  religion 
which  the  Hosso,  Kegon,  Tendai,  and  Shingon  had  been 
palming  off  on  the  country  to  the  obvious  disgust  of  the 
warrior  and  the  man  of  action.  It  was  very  different, 
again,  from  the  pietistic  solifidianism  of  Honen  and 
Shinran,  with  its  contempt  for  this  world  and  its  fixed 
gaze  upon  the  joys  of  the  Western  Paradise.  The  Zen 
fired  the  imagination  of  the  warrior,  the  statesman,  the 
man  of  letters,  and  if  Japanese  art  drew  its  inspiration 
from  the  wild  fancies  of  Kegon  and  Shingon  Buddhology, 
Japanese  poetry  drew  it  from  the  solid  quietude  of  the 
Zen  monasteries,  where  it  was  taught  to  look  "within," 
into  the  heart  and  into  the  innermost  shrine  of  Nature, 
and  there  to  be  comforted  by  the  One,  Omnipresent,  Heart 
of  Buddha,  whom  man  can  feel  but  not  know.^ 

>  I  have  drawn  the  thoughts  contained  in  this  description  of  the 
Zen  from  a  treatise  on  Zengaku,  "  The  Zen  Philosophy,"  by  Mr.  K. 
Nukariya. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

NiCHIREN   AND    THE   EaRLIBR   SeCTS 

In  the  year  1257  Japan  was  visited  by  a  very  terrible 
earthquake.  After  the  earthquake,  in  1258,  came  a 
destructive  hurricane  which  overthrew  much  that  the 
earthquake  had  left  standing.  In  1259  there  was,  as  a 
natural  result  of  the  two  calamities  already  mentioned,  a 
famiae  throughout  Japan,  with  the  pestilence  which 
always  seems  to  follow  in  famine's  train.  The  distress 
was  so  great,  says  Nichiren,  in  one  of  his  letters,  that  men 
prayed  to  die  rather  than  remain  aUve  in  the  midst  of  the 
universal  misery.  The  Government  was  at  its  wits'  end 
to  know  what  to  do  to  relieve  the  general  suffering : 
supphcations  and  prayers  were  ordered  to  be  offered  up 
in  all  temples  throughout  the  land.  But  months  passed 
by  without  any  signs  of  alleviation  or  abatement.  At 
last,  in  1260,  Nichiren  took  to  preaching  in  the  pubho 
streets  of  Kamakura,  after  having  handed  in  to  the 
Regent  and  his  retired  father  his  newly  written  treatise 
entitled  "  Rissho  Ankoku-ron."  In  the  same  year,  Kublai 
Khan,  the  grandson  of  Jingis  Khan,  estabhshed  his 
capital  at  Pekin,  or  Khambahk,  where  he  received  a  visit 
from  the  Itahan  traveller,  Marco  Polo.  These  few  facts 
will  serve,  I  trust,  as  a  sufficient  introduction  to  this 
chapter. 

Nichiren  was  bom  in  1222,  in  a  remote  village  on  the 
coast  of  Awa.    He  was  in  the  habit  of  describing  his 


288    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

father  as  an  outcast,  from  whence  some  have  inferred  that 
he  was  of  low  descent.  This  was  not  so,  however ;  his 
father  had  been  the  retainer  of  a  high  noble  at  the  Court 
of  Kyoto,  and  had  been  banished,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  time,  for  some  fault  which  had  displeased  his 
master.  What  the  fault  was  is  not  mentioned  ;  if  the 
father  was  at  all  like  the  son,  we  may  infer  that  it  was 
that  outspoken  plainness  which  men  of  high  position  do 
not  always  hke.  The  family,  which  consisted  of  father, 
mother,  and  the  one  child  born  to  them  in  exile,  lived 
alone  and  apart  in  the  fishing  village,  shunned  by  the 
natives  because  they  were  in  disgrace,  and  holding  little 
intercourse  with  their  neighbours.  The  child,  sensitive, 
tender  -  hearted,  high  -  spirited,  and  fearless,  grew  up 
soUtary  and  alone,  the  butt  of  the  fisher  lads,  but  devoted 
to  animals,  especially  to  the  injured  and  maimed. 

In  1234,  being  about  twelve  years,  he  was  taken  by 
his  parents  to  the  Temple  of  Kyosumidera,  not  far  from 
his  native  village,  and  there  placed  under  the  care  of  an 
old  Shingon  priest,  who  was  the  incumbent.  It  has 
always  been,  in  Japan,  the  course  pursued  in  dedicating 
a  child  to  the  priesthood,  to  take  him  to  some  worthy 
priest  to  be  trained  and  educated,  and  to  let  him  serve  as 
acolyte  and  personal  attendant  on  his  master  until  such 
time  as  he  is  ready  to  take  upon  himself  the  Vows  of  the 
Order. 

Nichiren  took  his  life  seriously.  One  of  his  first  acts 
after  entering  the  Kiyozumi  Temple  ^  as  a  student  was 

'  I  take  my  materials  for  Niohiren's  life  from  the  following  sources  : 
(1)  Principally  from  the  "  Seigoroku,"  a  collection  of  extracts  from  his 
writings,  which  is  a  veritable  mine  of  information;  (2)  from  two 
Japanese  lives  of  the  Saint,  which  appeared,  one  in  1893  and  one  in 
1909;  (8)  from  a  play  entitled  Nichirengi,  which  was  brought  out  in 
1894 ;  and  (4)  from  the  chapters  on  Nichiren  in  vol.  v.  of  "  Bukkyo- 
Kakushu  K5yd"  (1885). 


NICHIREN  AND   THE   EARLIER   SECTS    289 

to  slip  away  by  himself  into  the  Temple  Oratory,  and 
'  there,  before  the  image  of  Kokiizo  Bosatsu,  to  offer  a 
prayer  that  he  might  grow  up  to  be  a  good  priest  worthy 
of  the  name  ;   and  as  he  went  on  with  his  studies  in 
the  quiet  seclusion  of  that  country  monastery,  he  felt 
the  premonitory  symptoms  of  his  great  vocation.    He 
realized  that  the  Buddhism  of  the  Kamakura  period  had    j^^-v^ 
departed  very  widely  from  the  primitive  Buddhism  of  its 
Indian  Founder ;  he  saw  that  it  was  hopelessly  divided 
by  sects,  schisms,  and  varieties  of  contradictory  doctrines, 
and  that,  being  so,  it  was  necessarily  incapable  of  doing 
the  good  in  the  world  which  its  Founder  had  meant  it  to 
accomplish.    The   condition   of   Japan   was   miserable ;  t-^ 
the  Buddhist  sects,  whether  of  Kyoto,  Nara,  or  Kama-  f- '^*^ 
kura,   were   powerless   to    resist    the    growing   evils :   a  '^  j|^ 
Buddhism  purified,  vivified,  united,  might  and  would    -i  0  ^ 
save   Japan   from  dangers   external   and  internal.    He 
determined  to  be  the  man  who  should  accompUsh  this 
great  design. 

Those  who  know  the  precociousness  of  youthful 
Japanese  will  not  be  surprised  at  Nichiren's  forming  this 
plan  before  he  was  twenty  years  of  age.  The  idea  seems 
to  have  been  suggested  to  him  by  the  reading  of  that  very 
remarkable  book,  the    "  Saddharmapundarika   Sutra."  ^ 

*  I  have  already,  in  my  book  "  The  Wheat  among  the  Tares," 
written  at  some  length  on  the  "  Saddharmapundarika."  I  wish  here 
to  add  that  the  book  falls  into  two  portions,  viz.  (1)  SJiakujnon,  as  it 
is  called  in  Japanese,  which  comprises  chaps,  i.-xiv.,  and  consists  of  a 
connected  series  of  what  may  be  termed  "  Visions ;  "  and  (2)  Hommon, 
which  consists  of  a  series  of  miscellaneous  chapters,  on  Spells,  on 
Avalokites'vara,  Samantabhadra,  and  other  Bodhisattvas,  etc.,  which 
are  but  loosely  connected  with  the  main  action  of  the  main  part  of 
the  book. 

It  is  often  held  by  Japanese  Buddhists  that  the  Hommon  is  a  series 
of  later  additions  to  the  original  book,  dating  not  much  earlier  than 
Kumaiajiva's  time  (a.d.  350-400),  and  the  Tendai  sect,  which,  like  the 

U 


290         THE   CREED   OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Having  read  it  and  interpreted  it  to  himself,  he  became 
quite  confident  of  his  mission,  and  with  characteristic 
energy  set  himself  to  work  to  prepare  for  executing  it. 
He  left  the  quiet  Temple  of  Kyosumidera,  and  for  several 
years  set  himself  to  work  to  travel  throughout  Japan  and 
make  a  study  of  every  existing  form  of  Buddhism.  When 
he  had  thus  finished  his  survey  of  the  whole  field,  he  felt 
himself  in  a  position  to  formulate  his  own  views  on 
rehgion  and  national  life.  Nichiren  has  often  been 
described,  by  those  who  knew  him  only  superficially,  as  a 
mere  dreamer  and  fanatic.  A  more  careful  study  reveals 
him  as  a  man  of  very  decided  opinions,  and  extremely 
outspoken.  But  he  was  always  able  to  give  a  reason  for 
his  conclusions,  and  those  reasons  were  sane  and  cogent ; 
and  in  putting  his  views  into  practice  he  constantly  showed 
that  if  he  dared  to  upbraid  error  in  severe  tones,  his 
courage  came  from  reflection  and  not  from  mere  impulse. 
For  more  than  twenty  years  Nichiren  devoted  himself 
with  great  dihgence  to  the  study  of  Japanese  Buddhism. 
He  has  told  us  in  one  of  his  letters  that  from  twelve  to 
thirty-two  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  comparative  study 
of  all  Buddhist  sects  in  his  country — Kusha,  Jojitsu, 
Eitsu  (Vinaya),  Hosso,  Sanron,  Kegon,  Shingon,  and  the 
Tendai-Hokke,  which  was  the  oflficial  designation  of  the 
sect  founded  by  Dengyo  Daishi  at  Hieizan.    To  these  he 

Nichiren,  professes  to  base  all  its  teaching  on  this  Sutra,  confines  itself 
mainly  to  the  Shakumon  section. 

It  was  Nichiren's  claim  that  to  him  had  been  revealed  the  true 
meaning  of  the  Hommon,  which  had  been  concealed  from  former  ages, 
and  been  kept  for  revelation  in  the  last "  millennium  "  of  the  "  Destruc- 
tion of  the  Law."  The  Shakumon,  according  to  him,  must  be  inter- 
preted in  the  light  of  the  Hommon,  which  is  the  really  important  part. 
The  gist  of  the  whole  is  to  be  found  in  the  syllables  myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo, 
which  form  at  once  the  object  of  adoration,  the  protective  charm,  and 
the  Kaidan,  or  Ordination  Vow  of  the  sect.  One  sub-sect  considers 
only  two  chapters  of  the  Hommon  to  be  really  genuine  and  authentic. 


NICHIREN  AND  THE  EARLIER  SECTS    291 

had  added  the  more  recent  foundations  of  the  Jodo  and 
Zen,  having  pursued  his  studies  at  Kamakura  and  Kyoto, 
at  Hieizan  and  Onjoji,  at  Kobo's  great  shrine  on  Koyasan, 
and  Shotoku's  temple  of  Tennoji  at  Osaka.^  At  the  con- 
clusion of  his  studies  he  had  some  very  bitter  things  to 
say  about  the  older  sects  into  which  Buddhism,  "  which 
should  be  one,"  had  crumbled. 

My  readers  will  have  noticed,  in  the  previous  chapters 
of  this  book,  that  Buddhism,  whether  in  India,  in  China, 
or  in  Japan,  has  always  shown  an  inveterate  tendency  to 
shield  itself  under  Government  favour  and  patronage. 
Kings  were  its  nursing-fathers  in  India,  where,  under 
As'oka,  Kanishka,  and  like-minded  rulers,  it  had  flourished 
and  become  a  mighty  tree.  When  royal  patronage  was 
withdrawn,  and  Hinduism  asserted  itself  once  more,  the 
zeal  of  the  Indian  Buddhist  lost  its  ardour,  and  the  Faith 
maintained  itself  only  in  those  lands  where  the  rulers 
were  Buddhists.  We  see  the  same  phenomenon  in 
China,  where  the  personal  creed  of  the  ruhng  house  had 
very  much  to  do  with  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  religion 
of  S'akyamuni. 

In  Japan,  Buddhism  failed  to  take  root  at  all  until 

*  I  give  Nichiren's  exact  words  from  a  modern  Japanese  edition  of 
extracts  from  Nichiren's  writings,  iwhich  has  made  this  great  Buddhist 
leader's  mind  accessible  to  me.  The  book  is  entitled  "Seigoroku," 
and  was  published  in  1907. 

"  Hitotsu  no  negai  wo  okosu.  Nihonkoku  ni  waretaru  tokoro  no 
Bukkyo  narabi  ni  Bosatsu  no  ron  to  ninshi  no  shaku  wo  narai-mi 
sorawabaya,  mata  Kusha,  Jdjitsu,  Ritsu,  Hosso,  Sanron,  Kegon,  Shingon, 
Hokke-Tendai,  to  mosu  Shu  tomo  amata  ari  to  kiku  ue  ni  Zenshu, 
J5do  shu  to  mosu  shu  mo  soro  nari.  Korera  no  shuju  shiyo  made 
komaka  ni  narawadzu  to  mo  shosen  kanyo  wo  shiru  mi  to  naraba 
ya  to  omoishi  yue  ni,  zuibun  ni  hashiri-mawari  ju-ni  ju-roku  no  toshi 
yori  sanju-ni  ni  itaru  made  niju  yo  nen  no  aida  Kamakura  to,  Kyo  to, 
Hieizan  to,  Onjo  to,  Koya  to,  Tennoji  to  no  kuniguni  tera-dera  ara-ara 
narai  mi-mawari  soraishi,"  etc.  ("  Seigoroku,"  p.  764). 


292    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

I  it  came  as  a  personal  gift  from  the  King  of  Kudara  to 
the  Emperor  of  Japan,  and  it  put  forth  no  leaves  or  buds 
until  watered  by  the  Imperial  hand  of  the  Crown  Prince, 
Shotoku  Taishi.  The  Nara  priests  were  nearly  all 
courtiers,  who,  though  they  might  intrigue  at  times 
against  the  Government,  still  intrigued  only  as  courtiers, 
in  the  interests  of  one  faction  against  another.  The  Heian 
clergy,  followers  of  Dengyo  and  Kobo,  had  become  the 
subservient  courtiers  of  the  dominant  Fyjiwara  family  ; 
the  pietists  of  the  Gempei  period  had  been  the  favoured 
ones  of  Emperors  like  Toba  and  Shirakawa  in  their  resist- 
ance to  the  gloved  hand  of  the  Fujiwara ;  the  Zen  had 
become  political  tools  in  the  powerful  grasp  of  the  Hogo 
Regents.  Nichiren  could  see  no  hope  of  social  or  political 
amehoration  from  the  sectwise  Buddhism  of  his  time. 
Religious  and  political  Japan  were,  in  Nichiren's  eyes, 
alike  suffering  from  a  dangerous  disease. 

"  Awake,  men,  awake  !  "  he  cried  in  one  of  his  earliest 
sermons  ;  "  awake,  and  look  around  you.  No  man  is 
bom  with  two  fathers  or  two  mothers.  Look  at  the 
heavens  above  you :  there  are  no  two  suns  in  the  sky. 
Look  at  the  earth  at  your  feet :  no  two  kings  can  rule  a 
country."  ^ 

And  yet  that  was  precisely  what  Japan  was  trying 
to  do.  Politically,  she  was  giving  her  allegiance  to 
Emperor,  Shogun,  Regent ;  spiritually,  to  Amida,  Vairo- 
c'ana,  S'akyamuni.  Politically,  the  rightful  sovereign  had 
been  pushed  aside  to  make  way  for  ambitious  subjects  ; 
spiritually,  the  rightful  Lord  of  the  Buddhist  heritage  had 
been  thrown  "  to  the  moles  and  bats  "  to  make  room  for 

'  "  Same  yo  hitobito,  ma  no  atari  sono  mi  wo  futari  no  chichi  naku, 
futari  no  haha  nakute  umaretaru  hitobito,  aogi  miyo,  Ten  ni  ni-jitsu 
naku,  fushite  miyo,  chi  ni  ni-0  naahi "  ("  Nichitan,"  by  Murakumo. 
Tokyo:  Minyusha.     1909). 


NICHIREN  AND   THE   EARLIER   SECTS    293 

the  ambitious  upstarts,  Amida  and  Dainichi,  whose  claim 
to  spiritual  homage  rested  on  no  sound  rock  of  Buddhist 
doctrine. 

He  therefore  constantly  condemned  the  already- 
existing  sects  of  Buddhism.  He  denounced  them  in  his 
first  sermon ;  he  continued  his  denunciations  to  the  very 
end.  Nemhutsu  wa  mugen  no  go}  The  Nembutsu  was 
consistently  deprecated  as  a  practice  which  leads  men  to 
the  lowest  of  the  hells.  Nichiren  never  treated  Amida 
as  being  in  any  sense  a  Buddhist  divinity.  He  looked  on 
him,  in  the  garb  which  the  Shinshu  made  him  wear,  as 
an  unauthorized  importation  from  somewhere  outside  of 
Buddhism,  and  his  Paradise  as  a  pure  fancy.  At  the  very 
best  he  held  him  to  be  but  a  partial  manifestation  of 
S'akyamuni,  the  One  and  Eternal.  It  was  not  Hkely  that 
the  peculiar  Jodo  tenet  of  salvation  by  faith  alone,  without 
repentance  or  works,  would  commend  itself  to  Nichiren's 
mind. 

Zenshu  wa  tenma  Jia-jun  no  setsu.  "  The  Zen,"  he 
continued,  "  is  a  doctrine  of  demons  and  fiends."  We  are 
famihar  with  the  illustration  of  the  man  whose  house, 
"  empty,  swept,  and  garnished,"  stood  open  for  the 
return  of  a  company  of  evil  spirits  larger  than  the  one 
that  had  been  cast  out.  The  Zen  house  was  just  in  that 
position.  Bodhidharma  had  cast  out  of  his  Buddhism  all 
the  superstitious  books  and  doctrines  with  which  the 
miracle-mongering  Mah  yanism  of  Central  Asia  and 
China  had  overlaid  the  original  simpHcity  of  S'akyamuni's  ' 
teaching.  He  had  put  nothing  in  its  place,  and  had 
bidden  his  followers  look  within  to  see  what  form  they 
should  see,  and  to  listen  for  what  voice  they  should  hear, 
coming  to  them  from  the  empty  chambers  of  their  own 
minds.    The  practice  of  Zazen  leads  to  spiritual  pride,  a 

1  ••  Seigoroku,"  p.  774. 


294    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

failing  not  rare  amongst  hushi  and  samurai,  in  spite  of 
their  other  great  virtues,  and  the  many  things  that 
Nichiren  had  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of  Zenshti  priests  and 
laymen  will  perhaps  account  for  the  extreme  bitterness  of 
this   sentence. 

Daisho  no  Kairitsu  wa  seken  owdku  no  ho  (or,  as  it  is 
to  be  found  in  a  shorter  recension,  Bitsu  Kokuzohu). 
"  The  Vinaya  sects,  whether  of  the  Small  Vehicle  {i.e. 
connected  with  the  Kaidan  at  Nara),  or  of  the  Great 
Vehicle  {i.e.  those  connected  with  the  Kaidan  at  Hieizan), 
are  brigands  that  disturb  the  peace  of  the  country."  We 
have  seen  how  ambitious  priests,  in  the  Nara  period, 
interfered  with  the  Imperial  succession  in  the  case,  e.g., 
of  the  Empress  Shotoku,  and  the  Emperor  Junnin,  and 
how,  after  Kwammu  had  moved  his  capital  to  Kyoto,  to 
be  free  from  sacerdotal  meddhng,  the  Tendai  priesthood 
had  still  managed  to  become  the  alUes  of  the  Fujiwara 
in  their  manipulation  of  Emperors  to  suit  their  own 
poUcy.  We  have  also  seen  how  the  Kaidan  question, 
which  was  mainly  one  of  disciphne,  and  which,  therefore, 
deeply  concerned  the  Eitsu  sects,  had  caused  a  schism 
between  Hieizan  and  Nara,  and,  later,  a  schism  and  civil 
war  between  Hieizan  and  her  daughter  temple  of  Miidera. 
When  we  think  of  the  Fighting  Temples,  with  their  train- 
bands and  men-at-arms,  we  can  see  some  reason  for 
Nichiren's  denunciation  of  the  brigand  sects  that  "  throw 
the  world  into  confusion." 

Shingon  he  described  as  hokohu,  "  traitors  to  their 
country,"  probably  with  reference  to  their  adoption  of  a 
lord  other  than  S'akyamuni,  the  rightful  lord  in  spiritual 
matters  in  Japan,  and  their  constant  reference  to  India 
as  the  seat  of  authority  in  matters  of  religion.  His 
language  as  to  Vairoc'ana,  or  Dainichi,  was  more  con- 
temptuous even  than  that  which  he  had  used  as  to  Amida. 


NICHIREN  AND   THE   EARLIER   SECTS    295 

He  maintained  that  for  Vairoc'ana's  existence  there  was 
no  evidence  at  all  that  could  be  brought  forward,  as  in 
the  case  of  S'akyamuni ;  that  the  story  of  the  finding  of  the 
Shingon  books  by  Nagarjuna,  in  the  Iron  Tower,  in  South 
India,  was  a  pure  fabrication ;  and  that  Kobo  Daishi  was 
the  "  prize  liar  of  Japan  "  {Nihon  no  dai  mogo). 

As  for  the  images  of  Amida,  Kwannon,  and  the  rest; 
he  was  charged  with  recommending  that  they  should  be 
cast  into  the  fire  or  the  sea.  They  had,  in  his  judgment; 
wrought  enough  mischief  in  Japan.^ 

Nichiren  first  enunciated  these  views  in  a  sermon 
preached  in  the  neighbourhood  of  his  native  village, 
which  he  visited  again  at  the  end  of  his  period  of  study, 
in  1254.  He  then  took  up  his  abode  near  Kamakura; 
where  he  built  a  little  hermitage  for  himself  in  the  hamlet 
of  Nagoye ;  for  there  was  no  temple  in  the  capital  of  the 
Hojo  Eegents  which  would  receive  him  as  an  inmate. 

'  "  Nembutsu  wa  mugen  no  go :  Zenshu  wa  Tenma,  hajun  no 
setsu:  Dai-sho  no  Kairitsu  wa  seken  owaku  no  ho:  Toshigoro  no 
Honzon,  Mida  Kwannon  to  no  zo  wo  hi  ni  ire  midzu  ni  nagaeu" 
("  Seigoroku,"  p.  774). 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  there  is  no  idol  on  the  main  altar 
in  a  Nichiren  temple,  though  the  side  altars  are  frequently  so  adorned. 
In,  e.g.,  the  Temple  of  My5h5ji  at  Kamakura,  the  oldest  of  all  Nichirenist 
shrines,  there  is  an  absolute  stupa  or  tabernacle,  such  as  was  found  in 
the  ancient  chaityas  in  India,  and  symbolical  of  the  stupa  which 
descended  from  heaven  in  chap.  xiv.  of  the  "Saddharma  pundarika." 
In  front  of  this  tabernacle  is  the  usual  "  table  of  prothesis  "  which  is 
to  be  found  in  aU  Buddhist  temples  in  Japan,  and  in  front  of  that, 
again,  what  may  be  called  the  Choir,  with  the  desks  for  the  monks. 
Over  this  part,  which  comes  about  the  middle  of  the  building,  is  a 
baldacchino,  or  imibrella,  from  which  hang  strings  of  flowers  'in  thin 
brass,  the  whole  being  intended  to  symbolize  the  '*  Pentecostal "  shower 
of  celestial  flowers  with  which  the  action  of  the  "Saddharma  pundarika  " 
commences.  Curiously  enough,  S'akyamuni  is  distinguished  from  the 
glorified  but  Invisible  Buddha,  who  is  supposed  to  be  within  the  taber- 
nacle. For  the  historical  S'akyamuni  there  is  a  distinct  building  in 
another  part  of  the  grounds.    This  is,  I  believe,  the  universal  practice. 


296         THE   CREED    OF    HALF   JAPAN 

Neither  was  there  any  pulpit  for  him  to  occupy,  except 
that  which  has  always  been  open  to  the  agitator  and  the 
reformer,  the  street  comer.  He  became  an  outdoor 
preacher,  and  his  sermons,  plain,  simple,  and  full  of 
conviction,  soon  attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention.  The 
earthquake,  the  famine,  the  pestilence,  the  fruitless 
prayers  offered  in  the  temples,  the  shadow  of  the  terrible 
Mongol  power  creeping  closer  to  Japan,  all  served  to  give 
point  to  his  oratory.  He  was  rapidly  gaining  the  popular 
favour ;  the  priests  of  the  official  sects  were  conscious  that 
power  was  slipping  from  them ;  the  Regent  had  reason 
to  be  annoyed  at  the  boldness  with  which  the  hermit 
of  Nagoye  addressed  him  in  his  semi-political,  semi- 
reUgious  pamphlet  on  the  "  Reformation  of  Rehgion  and 
the  Pacification  of  the  Country."  Nichiren's  enemies 
combined  to  bring  against  him  a  formal  accusation  of 
fomenting  rebeUion  and  promulgating  heresy.  He  was 
arrested,  brought  before  the  Regent's  Court,  found  guilty, 
and  banished  to  Ito  in  the  peninsula  of  Idzu.  This  was 
in  1261  ;  in  1264  he  was  once  more  in  Kamakura,  more 
outspoken  than  ever.  Another  great  calamity  was 
impending — a  long-continued  drought  hung  over  the 
land,  and  threatened  a  failure  of  the  rice-crops.  The 
official  priesthood  were  praying  for  rain,  but  there  was 
none  to  answer.  Nichiren  laughed  at  their  vain  efforts. 
At  last  he  took  his  turn  at  prayer  :  Heaven  answered,  and 
the  people  were  convinced  that  he  was  a  prophet. 

But  he  had,  in  the  excitement  of  his  preaching,  allowed 
himself  to  use  unseemly  expressions.  He  had  told  the 
people  that  the  late  Regent,  the  well-meaning  and  devoted 
Saimyoji,  was  in  hell,  suffering  torments,  and  that  the 
present  Regent,  Tokimune,  was  preparing  to  follow  him. 
The  words  were  seized,  twisted,  and  exaggerated.  His 
enemies  procured  his  arrest  and  haled  him  before  the 


NICHIREN  AND   THE   EARLIER   SECTS    297 

Regent's  Court,  where,  after  an  eventful  trial  which  his 
followers  to-day  read  with  something  of  the  reverence 
with  which  we  listen  to  the  recital  of  the  famiUar  story 
of  our  Lord's  Passion,  he  was  condemned  to  death,  and 
led  out  for  execution  on  the  sands  of  Tatsu  no  Kuchi,* 
halfway  between  Kamakura  and  Enoshima. 

But  the  Regent  must  have  felt  that  Nichiren  was  in 
the  right.  His  conscience  troubled  him  after  he  had 
passed  the  sentence  of  death,  and  he  sent  a  messenger 
post  haste  after  the  executioner's  cavalcade  to  revoke  the 
condemnation,  and  changed  the  sentence  to  one  of 
banishment  to  the  distant  island  of  Sado.  The  messenger 
arrived  only  just  in  time.  The  mats  were  already  spread 
for  the  prisoner  to  kneel  on  while  waiting  for  the  fatal 
stroke,  the  prisoner  was  already  kneeling  on  the  mat, 
and  his  faithful  disciples  held,  and  have  ever  since  held, 
that  their  master  was  given  back  to  them  from  the  dead. 
Legend  has  been  busy  with  the  embelUshment  of  the 
story.  The  executioner,  it  was  said,  had  already  lifted 
his  sword,  when  a  flash  of  lightning  from  a  cloudless  sky 
rendered  the  blow  innocuous.  Before  he  had  recovered 
for  a  second  stroke,  the  messenger  from  the  Regent  had 
arrived  and  the  danger  was  past. 

The  exile  in  Sado  was  not  of  long  duration.  Nichiren 
returned  in  1272,  busily  warning  the  nation  about  the 
danger  of  the  Mongol  invasion.  When  asked  by  the 
officers  of  the  Kingo,  or  body-guard,  what  reasons  he  had 
for  his  predictions  of  evil,  he  replied  that  he  had  general 
Scriptural  authority  for  what  he  said,  and  that  he  had 
come  to  his  particular  conclusions  as  to  time,  etc.,  through 


'  To  the  prosaic  foreign  resident  of  Tokyo  and  Yokohama  the  place 
is  known  as  "  Poker  Flat."  "  What  is  Nichiren  to  him,  or  he  to 
Nichiren  ?  " 


298  THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

"  discerning  the  face  of  the  heavens."  ^  He  now  bore  a 
charmed  Hfe,  and  was  quite  secure  in  the  affection  of  his 
followers.  His  later  years  were  devoted  to  Minobu  and 
Ikegami,  the  two  monasteries  especially  connected  with 
the  memories  of  his  personality,  and  at  the  latter  he 
passed  to  his  rest,  in  the  year  1282.  His  had  been  an 
eventful  life.  He  still  has,  among  his  countrymen,  many 
friends  and  many  detractors.  To  the  outsider,  who 
studies  him  impartially,  he  will  always  appear  as  a 
fearless  man  who  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  theological  remedy  which 
Nichiren  proposed  for  the  ills  both  of  Church  and  State. 

It  was  his  great  idea  to  restore  S'akyamuni  (not  in  his 
temporal  manifestation  in  fleshly  form,  but  as  the  Eternal 
and  Infinite)  to  his  proper  place  in  the  Buddhist  Heavens. 
False  brethren,  calUng  themselves  Buddhists,  had  given 
to  S'akyamuni  a  place  of  inferiority.  They  had  spoken 
of  him  as  only  a  temporary  manifestation  of  a  part  of  the 
glories  of  some  other  Buddha,  Amitabha  or  Vairoc'ana, 
greater  than  himself,  and  the  simpler  Sutras  of  the 
Hinayana  they  had  despised  as  containing  a  simplified 
Gospel  watered  down  to  suit  the  intelligence  of  the  ill- 
instructed.  Nichiren  reversed  the  position.  He  had 
been  much  shocked  on  one  of  his  journeys  to  find  some 
children  playing  with  an  idol  of  S'akyamuni  which  had 
been  discarded  from  the  temple  to  make  room  for  a  new- 
fangled image  of  Amida,  and  he  was  resolved  to  make 
reparation  for  the  insult  which  had  thus  been  offered  to 
the  lawful  Lord  of  Buddhism.    "  S'akyamuni,"  he  said, 

*  "  Kyomon  ni  wa  biinmyo  in  toshi-tsuki  wo  sashitaru  koto  wa 
nakeredomo,  Ten  no  on-keshiki  wo  haikenshitatematsuru  ni,"  etc. 
(•'  Seigoroku,"  p.  807).  Yet  it  is  quite  possible  that  Nichiren,  as  a  priest, 
had  means  of  obtaining  information  about  foreign  countries,  which  were 
not  accessible  to  the  statesmen  of  Kamakura.  It  was  still  the  practice 
for  Buddhist  priests  to  go  over  to  China  for  purposes  of  study. 


NICHIREN  AND   THE   EARLIER   SECTS    299 

in  one  of  his  voluminous  writings/  "  is  the  lord  of  this 
Saba-world,  for  three  reasons — firstly,  because  he  is  the 
World-honoured  One  for  all  sentient  Beings  ;  secondly, 
because  he  is  both  Father  and  Mother  of  all  sentient 
Beings  in  this  Saba-world ;  and  thirdly,  because  he  is  the 
Original  and  First  Teacher  of  all  sentient  Beings  in  this 
Saba-world."  Everything  that  the  Jodoist  said  about 
Amida,  Nichiren  said  about  S'akyamuni.  S'akyamuni  was 
uncreated,  without  beginning,  without  end,  unlimited  in 
every  aspect.  S'akyamuni  was  the  Light  of  the  World, 
had  always  been  so,  would  always  remain  so.  Whatever 
teaching  there  was  in  the  world,  whatever  hope  there  was 
for  man  of  ultimate  perfection,  all  came  to  him  from 
S'akyamuni,  whose  mercies  were  over  all  the  world,  but 
more  especially  over  the  fortunate  inhabitants  of  the 
ichi-embudai  ^ — Ladia,  China,  and  Japan — ^which  had 
embraced  his  Faith. 

S'akyamuni' s  teachings  are  summed  up,  said  Nichiren 
(following  herein  the  teachings  of  the  Japanese  Tendai), 
in  the  Hokekyo  or  Saddharmapundarika  Sutra,  spoken 
on  the  Vulture's  Peak  during  the  last  few  years  of  his 
earthly  life.^  But  this  Sutra  he  interpreted  in  a  new 
manner,  with  great  ingenuity. 

*  "  Kono  Shaka  Nyorai  wa  mitsu  no  yue  mashimashite,  ta-Butsu  ni 
kawarase  tamaite,  Shabo  sekai  no  issai  shujo  u-en  no  Hotoke  to  nari 
tamau:  ichiniwa,  Kono  Shabo-sekai  no  issai  shujo  no  seson  nite  o 
washimasu;  ...  nil  ni  wa,  .  .  .  Shabo-sekai  issai  shujo  no  fu-mo 
nari:  .  .  .  san  ni  wa,  .  .  .  issai  shujo  no  honshi  nari"  ("  Seigoroku," 
p.  131). 

*  The  term  icM  embtidai  is  tisod  in  Nichiren's  writings  to  embrace 
all  the  countries  which  had  adopted  the  Buddhist  Faith.  It  is,  there- 
fore, strictly  analogous  to  our  word  "  Christendom,"  used  to  denote  the 
Bum-total  of  Christian  countries. 

*  Nichiren  was,  however,  fully  aware  of  the  chronological  difficulties 
connected  with  the  acceptance  of  the  Hokekyo  as  a  genuine  Sutra 
actually  preached  ;by  S'akyamuni  himself.      In  a  passage  quoted  in 


300    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

The  Hokekyo,  in  Nichiren's  interpretation,  was  an 
Apocalypse  containing  a  forecast  of  the  things  which  should 
come  to  pass  in  Buddhism  after  the  death  of  its  founder. 
It  deals  with  the  "  Millenniums  "  of  Buddhism — the  three 
periods,  one  of  five  hundred,  and  two  of  one  thousand 
years  each,  which  should  cover  what  might  be  called  the 
present  dispensation — a  conception  which  is  quite  a 
familiar  one  to  the  whole  family  of  Japanese  Buddhism. 

In  the  Hokekyo  itself  the  scene  is  laid  on  the  Vulture's 
Peak,  the  favourite  haunt  of  S'akyamuni  in  his  later 
years.  The  Master,  now  an  old  man,  is  weary  with  teach- 
ing and  has  fallen  into  a  trance.  "  His  body  was  motion- 
less, and  his  mind  had  reached  perfect  tranquiUity.  And 
as  soon  as  the  Lord  had  entered  upon  his  meditation  there 
fell  a  great  rain  of  divine  flowers,  covering  the  Lord  and 
the  four  classes  of  hearers,  .  .  .  and  at  that  moment  there 
issued  a  ray  from  within  the  circle  of  hair  between  the 
eyebrows  of  the  Lord.  It  extended  over  eighteen  thousand 
Buddha  fields  in  the  Eastern  quarter."  The  trance 
Nichiren  took  as  denoting  the  Parinirvana  of  S'akyamuni. 
Then  comes  a  period  of  silence,  that  period  which  we  have 
already  noticed  in  our  historical  review  of  the  Buddhist 
Church — a  period  much  longer  to  the  Northern  Buddhist 
who  knows  nothing  of  As'oka,  and  passes  straight  from 
the  Vaisali  Council  to  that  held  under  Kaniskha.    At  the 

"Seigoroku"  (p.  645),  after  enumerating  the  early  patriarchs  of  the 
Northern  Buddhism,  he  adds  that  during  their  terms  of  office  there  is 
not  to  be  found  even  the  name  of  a  single  Mahayana  Sutra  (sho-Daijo 
Kyo  wa  myoji  mo  nashi),  and  on  the  following  page  there  is  another 
passage  in  which  he  describes  the  astonishment  and  perplexity  of  the 
Hinayana  doctors  when  As'vaghosha  and  Nagarjuna  began  to  propound 
their  Mahayana  doctrines.  Nichiren's  thought  was  that  the  Hokekyo, 
as  a  kind  of  Apocalypse,  was  far  too  advanced  for  the  immediate 
disciples  of  S'akyamuni,  and  that  for  this  reason  it  lay  fallow  for  several 
centuries,  gradually  winning  recognition  for  itself  as  the  spiritual  in- 
telligence of  the  Buddhist  communities  increased. 


NICHIREN  AND   THE   EARLIER   SECTS    301 

close  of  that  period  there  comes  the  "  great  rain  of 
divine  flowers,"  and  the  ray  of  Hght  travels  from  S'akya- 
muni  eastward.  The  first  "  Millennium,"  ^  the  period  of 
the  Upright  Law  {Sho  Ho),  was  over,  the  activities  of 
As'vaghosha  and  Nagarjuna  represent  a  kind  of  Pentecostal 
shower  of  Buddhist  revival,  and  Buddhism  travels  to 
China.  When  the  Lord  awakes  from  his  trance,  he  explains 
the  meaning  of  the  shower  and  ray.  The  wheel  of  the  Law 
is  to  receive  a  fresh  turn,  a  higher  form  of  Buddhism  is 
to  be  preached,  and  the  idea  of  the  twofold  Vehicle  of 
Salvation  is  enforced  by  many  parables. ^  The  early 
Apostles  of  Buddhism,  Kasyapa,  Ananda,  Rahula,  etc., 
whose  labours  had  kept  Buddhism  alive  during  the  first 
Millennium  of  its  existence,  are  praised  and  thanked,  and 
the  reward  prepared  for  them  is  announced.  A  number 
of  discontented  monks  leave  the  assembly  in  anger  on 
hearing  of  the  impending  changes  in  Buddhist  doctrine 
(Nichiren  explains  this  as  referring  to  the  discontented 
Hinayanists  who  opposed  the  Mahayana  at  its  first 
inception),  but  eighty  thousand  remain  faithful,  and 
S'akyamuni  turns  to  Bhaishajyaraja  (Jap.  Yaku-0)  as 
the  representative  of  the  new  order  of  preachers.  The 
period  of  Image  Law  {zd  ho)  ^  has  begun ;   a  siwpa,  or 

*  We  must  remember  that  Nichiren,  in  common  with  all  northern 
Buddhists  until  quite  recent  times,  placed  S'akyamuni's  birth  B.C.  1027, 
and  his  death,  consequently,  about  B.C.  947.  The  true  date  places  the 
end  of  the  first  age  in  the  first  Christian  century,  and  squares  very 
well  with  what  we  know  of  the  beginnings  of  Gnosticism,  as  well  as  of 
the  Mahayana.  Nichiren  speaks  of  the  pre-Mahayana  Sutras  as  ni  sen 
(*'  before  the  rain  "),  an  expression  which  somehow  seems  to  be  an  echo, 
as  it  were,  of  phrases  like  **  Pentecostal  showers." 

*  See  "  S.B.E.,"  vol.  xxi.,  and  my  "  Wheat  among  the  Tares  "  (Mac- 
millan,  1908). 

'  It  is  significant  that  this  period  of  the  Image  Law  should  coincide 
so  strangely  with  the  testimony  of  the  Buddhist  Stupas  in  India.  See 
Dahlmann's  "  Indische  Fahrten,"  vol.  ii.  capp.  22-27. 


302         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

tabernacle,  dosconding  out  of  Hoaven,  reveals  to  the 
worshipping  multitude  the  image  of  S'akyumuni  fusing 
itself  into  that  of  his  predecessor,  whom  the  Japanese 
know  as  Taho  Butsu ;  and  crowds  of  smaller  Buddhas, 
partial  manifestations  {bunshin)  of  S'akyamuni  the  One 
and  Eternal,  sit  on  lotus-thrones  around  the  throne.  The 
groat  proachors  of  the  New  Law  are  the  Bodhisattvas, 
Manjusri,  Avalokites'vara,  Yakuo,  etc.,  whom  Nichiren 
treats  as  having  been  historical  personages,^  and  the  work 
before  thorn  is  to  prepare  for  the  third  Millennium,  the 
Period  of  the  Destruction  of  the  Law  ^  (Mappo), 
wiiich  Nichiren  places  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century  a.d.  Thanks  to  Chisha  Daishi,  Dengyo,  and 
other  labourers  in  the  field  of  the  Mahay  ana,  the  true 
meaning  of  S'akyamuni's  teaching  was  gradually  being 
brought  out  during  the  whole  of  this  second  period. 
The  author  of  the  Hokekyo  had  spoken  of  it  as  the  period 
of  the  •'  Destruction  of  the  Upright  Law ; "  with  the 
Mongol  terror  lying  thick  and  gloomy  over  two  continents, 
the  phrase  must  have  been  a  significant  one. 

But  Nichiren  had  a  word  of  comfort  for  this  period  of 
gloom.'    In  chap.  xiv.  of  the  it  Saddharma  pundarika  " 

'  Similarly,  tlio  Tbibotan  bistory  of  Buddbism  publisbed  by  Sarat 
Oh»ndrft  Dan  (Oaloutta,  1908)  spoaks  of  tbo  oonvorsion  of  India  aa 
duo  to  S'akyamuni ;  of  UdyRna,  to  Vajrapani ;  Baotria,  to  tbo  frigbtful 
manlfontations  of  tbe  Bodblsattva ;  of  Gbina,  to  Monjugbosba ;  of  Tbibet, 
to  Avalokites'vara ;  ("  Pag.  Sam.  Jon.  Zang,"  part  ii.,  Table  of  Contents, 
ohap.  i.)  Soa  aUo  "  Uue  Bibliotb^que  M^dievalo  rotrouv^o  &  Kansou," 
in  Bulletin  HooU  SVang.  do  I' Extreme  Orient,  viii.  3,  4  (Hanoi,  1908). 

•  See,  for  inat»aoe,  "  Saorod  Books  of  the  East,"  vol.  xxi.  p.  273. 

*  Michiren  divided  the  "Saddharma  pundarika  "into  two  parts.  The 
flr«t  thirteen  chapters  he  calls  the  Shakumon,  or  Preliminary  part. 
Tbla  part  was  understood  by  tbo  Tendal  doctors.  Tbo  socond  part, 
ifumrmm,  or  the  Real  Section,  was  not  understood  until  its  meaning 
won  revoalod  to  and  through  Niobiren.  See  chapter  on  Nichiren  in 
•'  BttkkyO  Kakuha  Koyo,"  vol.  v. 


NICHIREN  AND   THE  EARLIER  SECTS    303 

there  is  a  scene  which  reminds  the  reader  of  the  "  multitude 
which  no  man  could  number  "  in  the  Book  of  the  Bevela- 
tion.    An  innumerable  host  of  Bodhisattvas  ("  Saints," 
we  might  call  them  in  Christian  language)  is  seen  issuing 
from  the  gaps  in  the  earth  and  standing  before  the  stupa 
throne  of  S'akyamuni.    At  the  head  of  them  are  four 
Great  Saints  (Bodhisattvas  Mahasattvas)  who  lead  in  the 
worship  of  the  Eternal  S'akyamuni  and  receive  his  com- 
mission.   "  The    very    first    of    those    afore-mentioned 
Bodhisattvas  Mahasattvas  "  ("  S.B.E.,"  vol.  xxi.  p.  364) 
was  named  Visishta-c'aritra,  which  in  Sinico-Japanese  is 
Jogyo-Bosatsu,    Nichiren  proclaimed  that  he  himself  was 
Jogyo-Bosatsu,  the  minister  of  S'akyamuni,  predestined 
by  his  Master  to  preach  the  Faith  in  the  dark  period  of  the 
Destruction  of  the  Upright  Law.    Thus  had  the  Master 
provided  for  each  Millennium  in  the  duration  of  his  Com- 
munity, and  for  each  of  the  three  great  countries  comprised 
in  the  ichi-enibudai — for  Lidia,  which  had  been  the  centre  of 
teaching  during  the  first  Millennium ;  for  China,  which  had 
received  it  during  the  second,  and  for  Japan,  from  which 
had  now  come  forth  the  Apostle  and  Teacher  of  the  third. 
And  the  saving  doctrine  which  Nichiren  felt  himself 
moved  to  proclaim  in  the  third  dark  Age  was  that  con- 
tained in  the  Daimoku  or  Title  of  the  Book  which  he 
revered  with  all  his  soul — Myd-ho-ren-ge-kyo,  "  the  scrip- 
ture of  the  Lotus  of  the  Good  Law,"  the  name  carved 
on  stone  or  painted  on  wood,  which  is  found  all  over 
Japan  as  the  honoured  symbol  of  the  Nichirenist  worship, 
the  name  which  is  constantly  on  the  lips  of  the  Nichirenist 
believer.    The  title  signifies  the  doctrine  contained  in  the 
whole  book,  and  that  doctrine  is  one  of  Unity .^    There 

>  Some  years  ago  I  had  a  pupil  who  always  spoke  of  himself  as 
a  Unitarian,  who  afterwards  went  to  America,  and  there  again  posed 
as  a  Unitariam.    When  he  returned  from  America  he  turned  out  to 


304         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

are  many  saints,  many  Bodhisattvas,  many  Buddhas. 

/And  yet  there  is  but  One  Buddha — Eternal,  Unlimited, 
in  Past,  Present,  Future,  and  that  Buddha  is  He  whom 
men  know  as  S.'aky;amuni,  of  whom  the  rest  are  but 
partial  manifestations  or,  in  some  cases,  spurious  counter- 
feits. The  teachings  of  that  One  Buddha  are  absolutely 
true  and  conformable  to  Reason  and  Nature ;  for  the 
Oneness  is  more  than  a  mere  Unity  of  Person.  The  One 
Eternal  Buddha  is  one  with  all  Reason,  and  one  with  all 
^   Nature.    There  are  not  two  ;  there  is  only  One.^ 

be  a  Nichiren  priest.    He  had  no  intention  to  deceive.    The  term 
"  Unitarian,"  to  his  mind,  exactly  described  what  he  was. 

'  I  think  it  is  best  to  let  Nichiren  speak  for  himself  here.  He  says 
as  follows : — 

"  Our  merciful  Father,  the  Tathagata,  manifested  himself  in  Central 
India  in  historical  times  (lit.  since  man's  life  has  been  limited  to 
one  hundred  years),  and  expounded,  for  the  benefit  of  all  sentient 
creatures,  the  whole  of  the  Holy  Teachings  of  his  lifetime.  The 
sentient  creatures  of  the  times  when  the  Tathagata  was  in  the  world, 
being  closely  bound  to  him  by  the  merits  of  good  actions  acquired 
in  the  past,  entered  upon  the  way  of  Truth  (and  were  saved).  '  But 
what,'  he  lamented,  '  shall  happen  to  the  Sentient  Berugs  who  shall 
come  after  my  Nirvana  ? '  So  he  caused  the  whole  eighty  thousand 
of  his  Holy  Teachings  to  be  committed  to  writing,  and  out  of  these 
entrusted  to  KaSyapa  the  monk  (sonja)  all  the  writings  of  the  Lesser 
Vehicle,  whilst  those  of  the  Greater  Vehicle,  together  with  the  Sad- 
dharma  pundarika  and  the  Nirvana  Sutras,  etc.,  he  entrusted  to  the 
care  of  the  Bodhisattva  Manju^ri.  But  the  kernel  of  all  the  eighty 
thousand  Teachings,  the  five  syllables  Myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo,  which  con- 
tain the  gist  (or  main  section)  of  the  Saddharma  pundarika  Sutra, 
he  entrusted  neither  to  Ka^yapa  and  Ananda,  nor  yet  to  Manjufiri, 
Samantabhadra,  Avalokites'vara,  Maitreya,  Kshitigarbha,  NagSrjuna, 
or  any  of  the  Great  Bodhisattvas,  though  they  desired  him  to  do  so ; 
but  summoning,  from  the  depths  of  the  earth,  the  old  man  Visishta- 
c'aritra,  he  did  there,  in  the  presence  of  the  Buddha  Prabhutaratna 
and  all  the  Buddhas  of  the  Ten  Quarters,  from  the  centre  of  the  Stupa 
of  S'akyamuni  made  of  Seven  Precious  Substances,  deliver  to  Visishta- 
o'aritra  the  Five  Syllables  of  the  Myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo.  Hence,  after 
his  Nirvana  he  considered  all  Sentient  Beings  as  his  sons,  to  be  treated 
with  absolute  equality  of  consideration.    But,  just  as  it  is  the  wont 


NICHIREN  AND   THE   EARLIER   SECTS    305 

It  is  not  difficult  for  a  modem  critic  to  pick  holes  in 
Nichiren's  argument.  We  know,  thanks  to  modern 
research,  that  S'akyamuni's  birth  must  be  put  no  earlier 
than  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  and  that  therefore  what 
Nichiren  calls  the  first  period  cannot  have  ended  earlier 
than  the  first  century  a.d.  We  feel  sure  that  if  Man- 
jusri,  Yaku-o,  and  the  other  Bodhisattvas  are  meant  to 
be  true  historical  personages,  the  prophecies  announcing 
their  future  destinies  must  be  put  on  a  par  with,  e.g.,  the 
prophecy  in  the  Lankavatara  Sutra,^  which  mentions  the 
coming  of  Nagarjuna,  or  that  which  announced  the 
coming  of  King  Kanishka,^  prophecies  made  up  after  the 
event.  What  is  really  of  interest  is  the  connection  traceable 
between  the  millennarian  teachings  of  the  Hokekyo  and 
the  similar  teachings  which  were  so  rife  among  some  of 
the  Gnostics  and  some  of  the  early  Fathers.  Still  more 
curious  is  the  similarity  of  thought  between  Nichiren  and 


of  physicians  to  give  medicines  according  to  the  disease,  so  during  five 
hundred  years  he  bade  Ka^yapa  and  Ananda  to  administer  the  medicine 
of  the  Small  Vehicle  Doctrines  to  all  beings,  and  during  the  next  five 
hundred  years  he  gave  to  Manju^ri,  Maitreya,  Nagarjuna,  and  Vasu- 
bandhu,  etc.,  the  medicines  of  the  Avatamsaka,  Vairoc'ana,  PrajnaparS- 
mita,  and  other  Sutras.  A  thousand  years  after  his  death,  in  the 
period  of  the  Image  Law,  he  bade  Yaku-0,  Kwannon,  and  the  other 
Bodhisattvas,  impart  to  aU  Sentient  Beings  all  the  other  doctrines,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Real  Section  of  the  Hokekyo.  '  When  the  period 
of  the  Failure  of  the  Law  shall  commence,'  said  he,  '  the  Scriptuies 
which  I  give  to  Ka^yapa,  Ananda,  etc.,  to  Manju^ri,  Maitreya,  etc., 
to  Yaku-0,  Kwannon,  etc. — the  Scriptures  of  the  Great  and  Small 
Vehicles — shall  remain  in  the  letter,  but  shall  no  more  serve  as 
medicines,  for  the  sickness  shaJl  be  grievous,  but  the  medicine  light. 
At  that  time  shall  Visishtao'aritra  be  manifested,  and  shall  give  the 
medicine  of  the  Five  Syllables  of  the  Myo-ho-ren-ge-kyo  to  the  Sentient 
Beings  within  Buddhadom.' " 

'  Mr.  Tada  Kanae  quotes  this  prophecy  in  his  chapters  on  Nagarjuna 
in  "  Shoshinge  Wasan  "  (p.  224). 

*  See  Kern's  "  Buddhismus  "  (German  Trans.),  vol.  ii.  p.  187  (160). 

X 


3o6    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Abbot  Joachim^  of  the  Franciscan  Order,  who  was  almost 
his  contemporary.  The  Christian  Friar,  who  had  travelled 
in  the  East,  and  was  the  protege  of  three  successive  Popes, 
also  postulated  three  millenniums  or  periods  of  1000 
years,  connected  respectively  with  the  names  of  the 
Three  Persons  of  the  Trinity.  His  calculations  did  not 
quite  coincide  with  those  which  Nichiren  based  on  the 
Hokekyo,  but  he  significantly  gave  the  year  1260  as  the 
date  for  the  inauguration  of  the  third  millennium,  that 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  1260  brings  him  very  close  to 
Nichiren.'^  Possibly  our  next  chapters  may  throw  some 
hght  on  the  subject. 

*  Abbot  Joachim  was  born  1145,  and  was  Abbot  of  Corace  (1178)  and 
of  Floris  (1196). 

'  Nichiren,  however,  writing  about  1254,  epeaka  of  himself  as  220 
years  after  the  commencement  of  the  Last  Period,  which  must  there- 
fore have  begun  about  1034.  The  student  will  perhaps  remember 
the  peculiar  wave  of  excitement  which  swept  over  Europe  as  the 
year  a.d.  1000  approached. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

"  ElSSHO    AnKOKU    RON  " 

The  "  Eissho  Ankoku  ron  "  is  the  title  of  Nichiren's  essay 
which,  being  presented  to  the  Kamakura  Regent,  brought 
down  upon  its  author  all  manner  of  persecutions  and 
troubles.  It  was  Nichiren's  warning  against  the  evil 
courses  which  were  bringing  his  country  to  decay.  It 
has  by  no  means  ceased  to  have  its  prophetic  value  in  the 
present  day.  I  have,  during  the  last  few  months,  met 
with  two  new  editions  in  Japanese  of  this  essay,  which, 
so  the  Nichirenists  tell  us,  is  as  applicable  to  the  Japan 
of  to-day  as  it  was  to  the  Japan  of  Nichiren's  time.  The 
essay  has,  to  the  best  of  my  beUef,  never  been  translated 
into  any  European  language  up  to  the  present. 

It  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue.  The  reader  must 
imagine  the  master  of  a  house,  who  must  be  Nichiren 
himself,  seated  before  his  books  in  his  study.  The  house 
is  probably  the  hermitage  which  Nichiren  built  for  himself 
among  the  sandhills  behind  Kamakura,  where  he  gathered 
round  him  his  earliest  disciples,  and  where  he  actually 
composed  this  historic  treatise.  To  him  comes  in  a  visitor, 
who  at  once  plunges  into  the  subject  that  lies  nearest  to 
his  heart. 

The  Visitor.  We  have  seen  many  signs  in  heaven  and 
in  earth  : — a  famine,  a  plague  ;  the  whole  country  is  filled  P  i-fe'/ 
with  misery.    Horses  and  cows  are  dying  on  the  road- 
sides, and  so  are  men,  and  there  is  no  one  to  bury  them. 


3o8    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

ptt^^')^  ^^®  ^^^^  °^  ^^®  population  is  stricken,  and  there  is  no 
house  that  has  escaped  scot-free.^ 

Hence  many  minds  are  turning  to  religion.  "  A 
sharp  sword  is  the  Name  of  Mida,"  ^  say  some,  and  turn 
in  prayer  to  the  Lord  of  the  Western  land,  whilst  others 
take  up  the  magic  charms  and  formulae  against  disease, 
which  belong  to  the  Lord  of  the  Eastern  Quarter.^  Others, 
again,  comfort  themselves  with  the  thought  that  disease 
is  but  a  short-lived  phenomenon,  that  old  age  and  death 
are  but  phantasies,  and  stay  themselves  with  the  comfort- 

-J^  able  doctrines  of  the  Hokke  Truth.*  Others,  again,  say 
that  "  the  seven  troubles  come  merely  as  a  matter  of 
rotation,  soon  to  be  succeeded  by  the  seven  forms  of 
prosperity,"  ^  and  with  this  thought  they  set  themselves 
to  the  details  of  countless  services  and  Utanies.  Others, 
again,  in  accordance  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Secret 
Shingon,^  use  copious  sprinklings  of  Holy  Water  from  the 

'  A  chronological  study  (if  possible)  would  show  that  this  statement 
is  no  exaggeration.  During  the  whole  thirteenth  century  Japan  was 
visited,  as  were  other  countries,  with  the  black  plague. 

^  This  is  a  quotation  from  a  book  called  the  "  Hanshusan."  It 
reminds  one  of  the  *'  two-edged  sword  "  of  the  New  Testament. 

*  The  Lord  of  the  Eastern  Quarter  is  Akshobya.  The  Sutras 
connected  with  him  are  mostly  incantations,  very  different  from  the 
Amida  Sutras.  The  Chinese  are  much  given  to  magic  and  sorcery, 
even  Confucius  having  written  a  book  on  the  subject.  This  may  have 
been  one  of  the  reasons  why  one  of  the  Han  translators  took  with  him 
some  of  the  Akshobya  Sutras.  Those  men,  with  a  strange  inconsistency, 
discouraged  astrology  whilst  advocating  the  use  of  magic  formulae. 

*  Hokke  Shmjitsu,  "  the  Truth  of  the  Hokke."  I  believe  this  to  be 
the  name  of  some  interpretation  of  the  "  Saddharma  pundarika,"  possibly 
a  commentary.  It  is  interesting  to  find  the  tenets  of  "  Christian 
Science  "  thus  anticipated  in  Japan. 

^  As  the  seven  fat  kine  in  Pharaoh's  dream  were  succeeded  by  the 
seven  lean  ones. 

*  According  to  the  Secret  Rules  of  the  Shingon  ritual,  the  Holy 
Water,  which  is  used  both  for  baptismal  purposes  and  also  for 
lustrations,  is  not  absolutely  pure.    It  is  mixed  with  Five  Treasures 


"RISSHO   ANKOKU   RON"  309 

five  vases.  Then,  again,  some  enter  into  ecstatic  medita-  y 
tion,  and  calmly  contemplate  the  truth  free  from  all 
care.*  Some  write  the  names  of  the  Seven  gods  of  luck  ^ 
on  pieces  of  paper,  and  affix  them  by  the  hundreds  to  the 
doorposts  of  their  houses,  whilst  others  do  the  same  with 
the  pictures  of  the  Five  Dairiki  ^  and  the  various  (Shinto) 
gods  of  Heaven  and  Earth. 

In  other  parts  of  the  country  the  lords  are  in  fear. 
They  remit  taxes  and  govern  their  people  with  benevolence. 
But  let  men  do  what  they  will,  the  famine  and  the  plague 
still  rage,  there  are  beggars  on  every  hand,  and  the 
unburied  corpses  line  the  roads. 

Now,  Sir,  when  we  see  Sun,  Moon,  and  Stars  go  on  in 
their  courses,  when  the  Three  Treasures  (of  Beligion) 
continue  to  be  respected,  and  when  kings  rule  peaceably, 
we  know  that  the  world  is  not  going  to  come  to  an  end. 
But  look  around  at  the  misery  of  the  age,  at  the  decay  of 
Buddhism.  What  can  be,  think  you,  the  cause  of  all 
this? 

The  Master.  That  is  just  what  I  have  been  moaning 

(I  do  not  know  what  they  are),  Five  Cereals,  Five  Drugs,  and  Five 
Species  of  Incense.  When  mixed,  the  water  is  placed  in  five  jars  or 
vessels  on  the  altar,  and  used  for  lustrations. 

1  The  practice  of  Zen,  or  meditation,  is  stUl  in  constant  use,  and 
it  is  always  more  popular  in  times  of  stress  and  anxiety. 

*  The  Seven  gods  of  luck  are  to  be  seen  constantly  as  charms  on  the 
doorposts  of  Buddhist  houses.    So  are  many  of  the  Shinto  deities. 

*  I  have  never  yet  come  ^across  the  Dairiki  (the  Five  Powerful 
Ones)  in  actual  use.  Their  names  are  Kongoku,  Ryuoku,  Muiboku, 
Baidenku,  Muryorikiku.  They  are  probably  Chinese,  and  may  have 
come  into  Japan  through  the  Kegon  sect,  which,  though  based  on  the 
Avatamsaka  Scriptures,  was  actually  organized  in  China.  There  is  a 
fable  about  the  demons  having  once  invaded  a  certain  country 
(Midaikoku),  and  having  been  driven  out  thence  by  the  Dairiki  invoked 
by  means  of  amulets  and  charms.  There  are  so  many  thousands  of 
different  amulets  in  use  in  Japan  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  say 
that  the  Dairiki  have  now  gone  out  of  fashion. 


3IO    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

about  to  myself.  I  see  that  our  thoughts  are  running  in  the 
same  channels.    Pray  forgive  me  if  I  enlarge  on  this  topic. 

When  a  man  embraces  the  Buddhist  religion  he 
expects  that  his  reHgion  will  be  a  means  of  obtaining 
Buddhaship ;  but,  at  the  present  day,  neither  does  the 
power  of  the  gods  manifest  itself,  nor  are  there  any  signs 
to  be  seen  of  men  attaining  Buddhaship.  When  I  look 
around  me,  my  foolishness  fills  me  with  doubts  about  the 
future,  when  I  look  up  to  the  sky  I  am  filled  with  resent- 
ment, when  I  contemplate  the  earth  I  see  matter  for 
earnest  thought.  But  when  I  come  to  examine  things 
more  closely  ^  in  the  light  of  the  Scriptures,  I  find  that 
the  whole  world  is  in  rebellion  against  what  is  right,  and 
that  men  have  universally  become  the  slaves  of  evil ; 
further,  that  on  account  of  this  not  only  have  the  good 
deities  left  the  country,  but  even  the  saints  abandon  the 
place  and  refuse  to  come  back  to  it.  Evil  spirits  and 
demons  have  come  to  take  their  places,  and  calamities 
and  sorrows  have  befallen  us.  These  are  matters  that  we 
cannot  help  speaking  of,  and  that  we  can  but  fear. 

The  Visitor.  I  know  that  I  am  not  the  only  one  that 
bewails  the  sorrows  of  the  Empire^  and  the  miseries  of 
my  country.  But  I  have  never  before  heard  the  sugges- 
tion made  that  the  gods  and  the  saints  were  forsaking 
the  country,  and  that  demons  and  evil  spirits  were  taking 
their  places.  Please  tell  me  what  Scriptural  proof  have 
you  for  your  statement  ? 

The  Master.  The  proofs  are  many  and  most  varied.  For 
instance,it  is  said  in  the  "Konkomyokyo,"^  "Although  this 

'  Lit.  "  Looking  through  a  hollow  reed." 

'  Ten  ka,  "  under  Heaven." 

*  I.e.  Suvamaprabhasa  sutra,  "  the  Sutra  of  the  Golden  Light " 
(see  Nanjo'8  "  Cat.  Trip.").  It  is  a  late  Sutra,  certainly  much  posterior 
to  S'akyamuni's  time.  But  it  was  much  read  in  Japan  in  the  early 
Buddhist  centuries. 


"RISSHO   ANKOKU   RON"  311 

Sutra  exists  in  the  land,  it  has  no  proper  power  or  influence, 
for  the  people  are  backshders  at  heart.  They  do  not 
wish  to  hear  it  read,  they  do  not  offer  it  worship,  nor 
respect,  nor  reverence.  Neither  are  they  able  to  pay 
proper  respect  and  homage  to  the  men  of  the  Four  sections 
when  they  see  them.  For  this  reason  both  we  ^  and  our 
fajnilies  and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven  have  lost  our  proper 
dignity  and  power ;  for  men  close  their  ears  to  the  deep 
mysteries  of  the  Sutra  ;  they  turn  with  aversion  from  the 
sweet  dew  (of  religion),  and  get  out  of  the  current  of  the 
stream  of  true  Buddhism. 

"  These  men  cherish  the  causes  of  evil,  they  do  despite 
to  men  and  angels,  they  fall  into  jthe  river  of  life  and 
death,  and  wander  from  the  road  of  Nirvana.  Therefore, 
O  world-honoured  One,  we,  the  Four  Kings,  and  all  our 
followers,  with  the  Yashas  and  others,  seeing  these  things 
taking  place,  shall  forsake  that  country  and  cease  to  act 
as  its  protectors.  And  not  only  shall  we  forsake  the  king, 
but  all  the  good  deities  whatsoever,  that  are  the  guardians 
of  the  land,  will  depart  from  it.  When  this  forsaking 
shall  have  been  accomplished  then  shall  many  calamities 
befall  this  land,  so  that  it  shall  entirely  lose  its  dignity  and 
self-respect.  Its  people  shall  lose  their  virtuous  minds 
and  become  criminals  and  malefactors,  they  shall  rage 
against  one  another,  they  shall  slander  one  another,  and 
even  wag  their  tongues  against  the  innocent.  There  shall 
be  plagues  and  comets;  two  suns  shall  appear  simul- 
taneously in  the  sky,  with  disturbed  courses ;  ^  two-coloured 
rainbows,  black  and  white,  shall  be  seen  with  distressful 
omens ;  there  shall  be  falling  stars  and  earthquakes,  and 

>  The  speaker  is  one  of  the  Four  Guardian  Kings  whom  Buddhism 
has  adopted  from  the  Hindus.  They  stand  "  at  the  four  corners  of  the 
earth." 

*  I  am  quite  uncertain  of  the  translation. 


312    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

voices  shall  come  forth  from  wells.  Storms  and  hurricanes 
shall  come  out  of  their  due  seasons  ;  there  shall  be  constant 
famines,  and  the  rice  shall  perish  even  in  its  tender  shoots. 
Brigands  shall  invade  the  country  from  foreign  lands,  and 
plunder  it.  The  inhabitants  shall  suffer  all  manner  of 
evils,  and  peace  and  comfort  shall  not  be  found  there." 

[Similar  prophecies  relating  to  the  condition  of  the 
world  in  the  days  when  Buddhism  shall  have  perished 
are  given  from  various  Sutras  of  the  Mahayana.  They 
differ  from  the  one  I  have  reproduced  only  in  minor  details. 
I  therefore  omit  them  here,  and  pass  on  to  the  conclusion 
of  the  Master's  speech.] 

These  Sutras  put  the  case  very  clearly,  and  there  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  their  meaning.  But  men's  ears  are 
deaf  and  their  eyes  blinded  :  they  believe  in  the  corrupt 
teaching  because  they  want  to  believe  it,  and  they  have 
lost  the  power  to  distinguish  between  truth  and  falsehood. 
In  short,  the  whole  world  has  departed  from  Buddha  and 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  there  is  no  desire  to  protect 
them.  Can  you  wonder  that  the  good  deities  and  the 
saints  should  forsake  the  land,  and  that  evil  spirits  and 
heretics  ^  should  bring  about  calamities  and  distress  ? 

The  Visitor  (changing  colour).  The  Emperor  Ming-ti  of 
theLaterHanDynastyunderstood  the  meaning  of  thevision 
of  the  Golden  Man,  and  accepted  the  teaching  that  was 
brought  to  him  on  the  White  Horse,  and  our  own  Venerable 
Crown  Prince,^  when  he  had  defeated  the  rebel  Moriya, 
built  temples  and  pagodas  in  our  land.  Ever  since  that 
time  every  one,  from  the  Emperor  down  to  the  lowest 
of  the  people,  has  reverenced  Buddhism  and  paid  respect 
to  the  Scriptures.     The  great  temples,  Enryakuji,  Kofu- 

'  Oedo,  "  outside  of  the  way."    It  is  a  common  word  for  all  non- 
Buddhist  religions — Confucianism,  Manichs9ism,  Christianity. 
'  I.e.  Shotoku  Taishi. 


"RISSHO    ANKOKU   RON"  313 

kuji,  Onjoji,  Toji,  and  others,  erected  in  all  parts  of  the 
land,  bear  witness  to  the  continuity  of  the  Faith ;  copies 
of  the  Scriptures  are  as  plentiful  as  the  stars  in  the 
firmament,  and  the  overhanging  roofs  of  the  temples  are 
like  a  protecting  cloud  over  the  land.  The  sons  of  S'ari- 
putra  ^  still  set  their  faces  to  the  Vulture's  Peak ;  the 
disciples  of  Kakuroku  still  preserve  the  holy  garments  and 
vessels  of  S'akyamuni.  How  can  you  say  that  the  traces 
of  the  Three  Precious  Things  have  disappeared,  and 
despise  the  teaching  of  the  present  day  ?  If  you  have  any 
proof  for  your  assertion,  please  show  it  me. 

The  Master.  Quite  true.  Temples  are  very  plentiful, 
and  there  is  an  abundance  of  sacred  books.  Buddhism 
has  never  lost  its  outward  succession  of  preachers  and 
adherents.  But  the  priesthood  is  so  corrupt  that  they 
lead  men  away  from  the  paths  of  virtue,  and  the  rulers  are 
so  ignorant  that  they  cannot  distinguish  good  from  evil. 
Hear  what  is  said  in  the  Sutra  of  the  Merciful  King 
(Ninnokyo) :  "  Evil  monks,  whose  thoughts  are  on  their 
own  aggrandizement  and  wealth,  preach  doctrines  which 
are  destructive  of  reUgion  and  social  order ;  princes  and 
rulers,  whose  minds  are  ignorant  and  who  cannot  tell 
right  from  wrong,  issue  decrees  and  ordinances  which  are 
not  after  the  Law.  When  these  things  come  to  pass, 
rehgion  perishes  and  the  country  is  brought  to  confusion." 
Again,  it  is  written  in  the  Sutra  of  the  Great  Decease  : 
"  The  Bodhisattva  need  not  fear  the  rutting  elephant : 
but  evil  knowledge  is  a  thing  to  be  dreaded.     The  rutting 

*  If  this  translation  is  the  right  one,  I  believe  it  refers  to  sects,  such 
as  the  Kegon,  who  accepted  as  genuine  the  collection  of  Sutras  said  to 
have  been  made  independently  by  S'ariputra  and  Maudgalyayana.  The 
scene  of  all  these  Sutras  is  laid  on  the  Vulture's  Peak  near  Benares.  I 
have  not  been  able  to  identify  Eakuroku  ;  but  there  have  always  been 
sects  that  have  laid  much  stress  on  the  possession  of  personal  relics  of 
S'akyamuni. 


314         THE  CREED   OF   HA.LF  JAPAN 

elephant  can  kill  the  body,  but  the  soul  may  be  saved  : 
the  evil  knowledge  which  comes  through  bad  friends  will 
cast  a  man's  soul  into  hell."  ^  The  same  thing  is  said  in 
the  Saddharma  pundarika  Sutra,^  and  there  is  a  passage 
in  the  Sutra  of  the  Great  Decease  which  tells  us  that  when, 
at  the  end  of  the  Period  of  the  Upright  Law,  all  the  saints 
shall  have  entered  into  Nirvana,  there  will  be  monks,  in 
the  period  of  Image  Law,  who  shall  recite  the  Sutras  only 
as  a  means  of  gaining  a  liveHhood ;  who,  although  wearing 
the  monkish  Kesa,^  shall  be  like  hunters  in  search  of  prey, 
like  cats  watching  for  mice.  Pretending  to  be  wise  and 
righteous,  they  will  be  full  of  jealousy  and  covetousness. 
Through  them  will  the  way  of  Buddhism  be  evil  spoken  of. 

Now,  sir,  when  I  look  round  me  at  the  world,  that  is 
exactly  what  I  see.  How  can  I  help  speaking  my  mind 
about  the  wickedness  of  the  monks  ? 

The  Visitor  (angrily).  I  assure  you  you  are  wrong. 
Wise  kings  rule  over  their  countries  according  to  the 
eternal  rules  of  Heaven  and  Earth ;  holy  men  bear  rule 
by  showing  them  the  differences  between  right  and  wrong. 
By  virtue  of  his  being  a  holy  man,  it  is  the  office  of  a  priest 
to  exercise  influence  in  the  State,  and  none  but  a  good  man 

'  Cf.  St.  Luke  xii.  6. 

'  I  have  omitted  the  quotation  from  the  Saddharma  pundarika  and 
abbreviated  the  one  from  the  Sutra  of  the  Great  Decease.  I  will  here 
merely  call  attention  to  a  parallelism  between  Christian  and  Buddhist 
history.  About  a.d.  70  or  a  little  later  all  Christ's  disciples  have  passed 
to  their  rest,  and  a  new  era  begins.  About  this  time  in  Buddhism 
comes  the  era  of  the  Image  Law.  About  a.d.  1000  commences  a  new 
era  of  ignorance  with  the  Crusades,  followed  by  a  very  imperfect 
Reformation.  It  is  the  period  of  Ma'ppo,  during  which  in  both  religions 
the  doctrines  of  Faith  are  preached.  This  second  Millennium  is  not  yet 
finished,  but  one  can  see  the  dawn  of  better  things  beginning  shortly 
after  Clive's  victory  at  Plassey — in  the  simultaneous  and  gradual 
religious  awakening  of  both  East  and  West. 

*  The  monk's  stole. 


"RISSHO   ANKOKU    RON"  315 

ever  gets  the  respect  and  reverence  of  ruler  and  people, 
however  great  may  be  his  merits  in  other  respects.  But 
we  see  in  our  country  a  continued  succession  of  wise  men 
and  saints  who  have  been  venerated  by  the  people,  and  we 
may  infer  that  the  fact  that  they  have  been  so  venerated 
shows  that  they  were  deserving  of  reverence.  Why,  then, 
do  you  speak  evil  of  dignities,  and  say  that  they  were 
bad  monks  ? 

The  Master.  In  the  reign  of  Gotoba  (a.d.  1184-1196) 
there  was  a  monk  of  the  name  of  Honen,  who  wrote  a 
book  called  the  "  Senchakushu,"  in  which  he  abused  the 
holy  teachings  of  the  age,  and  misled  men  by  the  thou- 
sands. Now  this  man,  basing  his  arguments  {again  I 
ahhreviate)  on  a  mistaken  interpretation  of  Nagarjuna's 
writings,  in  which  he  follows  Doshaku,  Donran,  and 
Zendo,^  his  predecessors  in  heresy,  divides  Buddhism  into 
two  gates,  the  gate  of  Holy  Practices,  and  the  gate  of 
Faith  in  the  Pure  Land,  and  advises  all  men,  in  this  age 
of  decay,  to  embrace  the  latter.  As  to  the  other  forms  of 
Buddhism,  and  as  to  the  other  Sutras,  including  even  the 
Saddharma  pundarika  and  the  Sutras  of  the  Shingon 
tradition,  he  uses  four  words  to  describe  what  should  be 
our  attitude  towards  them.  "  Give  them  up,"  he  says, 
"  close  the  books,  lay  them  aside,  fling  them  away."  ^ 
By  means  of  this  doctrine  he  has  misled  thousands  of  his 
followers,  both  lay  and  clerical. 

'  I  must  refer  my  reader  to  what  I  have  said  concerning  these 
Patriarchs  of  the  Pure  Land  Sects  in  my  little  book,  "  Shinran  and  his 
Work "  (Tokyo :  Kyobunkwan).  I  would  also  refer  him  to  Dr.  Eiiaa' 
very  excellent  treatise,  "  Amida  unsere  Zuflucht,"  in  the  "  Religions- 
tukunden  der  Volker  "  (Leipzig :  Dietrich),  Dr.  Haas  has  made  a  very 
useful  collection  of  the  writings  of  leading  Amidaists,  and  I  am  very 
thankfiil  to  have  had  the  opportunity  of  consulting  his  work  before 
Bending  these  pages  to  the  printer. 

'  The  words  in  Japanese  are  sha  (^),  hei  (P9),  kaku   (^)i  bo 


3i6    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Now,  this  teaching  is  in  direct  contradiction  to  one  of 
Amida's  Vows/  as  contained  in  the  three  Pure  Land 
Sutras  in  which  alone  he  puts  his  trust.  I  mean  the  Vow 
that  Aroida  takes  to  "  clear  away  the  five  obstacles  to 
the  truth,  and  to  remove  the  abuses  of  true  Buddhism." 
It  is  in  contradiction,  likewise,  to  the  teachings  of  the 
"  whole  life  according  to  the  five  periods."  ^  It  can  lead 
its  author  nowhere  but  to  the  lowest  hell.  We  Uve  in  an 
age  when  saints  are  few ;  there  are  not  many  that  can 
discern  the  dangerous  nature  of  these  teachings.  Woe 
unto  them  !  They  do  not  smite  the  offender.  Woe,  woe  ! 
they  acquiesce  in  the  propagation  of  a  false  faith.  From 
the  princes  and  barons  down  to  the  common  people,  every 
one  is  now  saying,  that  there  are  no  Scriptures  but  the 
Three  of  the  Pure  Land,  and  no  Buddha  but  the  Triune 
Amida.^  But  in  ancient  days  it  was  not  so.  The 
teachings  which  famous  priests,*  such  as  Dengyo,  Gishin, 
Jikaku,  and  Chisho,  brought  with  them  from  over  the 
seas  were  revered  by  all  the  people.  Mountains,  rivers, 
and  valleys  were  consecrated  by  the  erection  of  sacred 
images  of  the  Buddhas,  and  pilgrims  flocked  from  all 
parts  to  worship  at  these  holy  places.    S'akyamuni  and 


»  This  charge  is  perfectly  true.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  believers  of 
the  Pure  Land  sects  never  talk  of  any  except  the  eighteenth  Vow, 
leaving  the  other  forty-seven  strictly  on  one  side.  But  then  it  is  quite 
clear  (see  my  "  Shinran  and  his  Work  ")  that  there  is  a  non-Buddhistic 
strain  in  their  doctrines,  which  is  almost  Pauline. 

*  According  to  the  Tendai,  who  accept  the  whole  of  the  MahSyfina 
Canon,  Shaka's  ministerial  life  fell  into  five  distinct  periods,  according 
to  which  the  whole  body  of  the  Scriptures  ought  to  be  arranged. 

*  Amida  sanzon,  referring  to  the  Three  Bodies  of  Amida — a  striking 
parallel  to  our  conception  of  the  Trinity. 

*  All  these  priests  belong  to  the  Tendai  sect,  which  was  marvellously 
comprehensive  in  its  attempts  to  arrange  all  the  Sutras  according  to 
one  system. 


"RISSHO   ANKOKU   RON"  317 

Yakushi  Nyorai/  Kokuzo  and  Jizo,  duly  reverenced, 
bestowed  peace  after  death  upon  their  worshippers. 
Princes  and  nobles  were  generous  in  finding  endowments 
for  temples,  and  the  services  were  frequent  and  reverent. 
And  then  came  Honen,  who  turned  away  from  his  master, 
rejected  his  disciples,  and  bade  men  worship  none  but  the 
Buddha  of  the  Western  land. 

Honen  pushed  aside  the  Nyorai  of  the  Eastern  Quarter,' 
he  exalted  only  the  four  volumes  containing  the  Three 
Books  of  the  Pure  Land,  and  threw  away  the  whole  sacred 
Canon  of  the  "  Whole  Life  in  Five  Periods."  As  a  con- 
sequence of  his  preaching,  men  refused  to  make  contribu- 
tions to  temples  that  were  not  dedicated  to  Amida,  and 
forgot  to  pay  their  tithes  to  priests  who  were  not  of  the 
Nembutsu.  Thus  temples  and  halls  have  fallen  into 
ruin,  so  that  for  a  long  time  they  have  been  uninhabitable, 
and  many  cloisters  have  fallen  into  disrepair,  and  are 
covered  with  rank  vegetation  on  which  the  dew  hes  thick 
and  undisturbed.  But  none  heeded  the  ruin  of  the 
temples,  none  would  repair  or  give  support ;  and  there- 
fore the  priests  who  Hved  there,  and  the  deities  who 
protected  the  people,  have  left  the  temples  and  refuse  to 
return.  For  all  this  who  is  to  blame  but  Honen  and  his 
Senchaku  ? 

Woe,  woe !  During  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years, 
thousands  of  people  have  been  enchanted  and  led  astray, 
so  that  they  wander  in  Buddhism  as  men  without  a  guide. 
Is  it  not  to  be  expected  that  the  good  deities  should  be 
angry  when  men  depart  from  the  truth  ?  Is  it  not 
natural  that  evil  spirits  should  make  the  most  of  their 

'  Yakiifihi  Nyorai,  the  Master  of  Medicines,  had  twelve  disciples,  and 
went  about  healing  sickness. 

'  I.e.  Akshobya,  whose  special  virtues  were  magic  and  a  supposed 
gift  of  long  Ufe. 


3i«    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

opportunities,  when  they  see  men  forsake  justice  and  love 
unrighteous  deeds  ?  It  is  better  far  to  exert  ourselves  to 
stay  an  impending  calamity  than  to  repeat  the  vain 
Nembutsu. 

The  Visitor  (changing  colour).  Since  the  time  when 
our  true  teacher  S'akyamuni  preached  the  Three  Sutras 
of  the  Pure  Land/  we  have  had  a  succession  of  teachers 
elaborating  this  theme.  Donran  Hoshi  preached  much  on 
the  Four  S'astras'^  and  devoted  himself  solely  to  the 
subject  of  the  Pure  Land  ;  Doshaku  ceased  to  think  about 
the  great  work  of  the  Nirvana,  and  gave  himself  wholly 
to  the  service  of  the  Western  Direction ;  Zendo  laid  aside 
all  miscellaneous  devotions  to  concentrate  himself  upon 
this  special  worship ;  Genshin  organized  (within  the  Tendai) 
a  society  of  Nembutsu  worshippers  whose  faith  rested  on 
many  Sutras.  All  these  men  worshipped  Amida.  Were 
not  their  labours  blessed  to  the  salvation  of  many  ? 
(Ojo  no  hito  sore  ikubaku  zo  ya  ?) 

Again,  you  must  remember  that  Honen  Shonin,  as  a 
young  man,  went  up  Mount  Tendai  {i.e.  Hieizan),  where 
he  read  through  sixty  volumes  ^  of  Sutras,  though  he  was 
but  a  young  man,  and  mastered  the  principal  doctrines  of 
all  the  eight  sects.  He  read  the  Sutras  through,  seven 
times  in  all,  and  no  commentaries  or  biographies  escaped 
his  attention.    His  knowledge  was  as  bright  as  the  sun, 

1  We  most  remember  that  it  is  the  constant  teaching  of  Japanese 
Buddhism  that  these  Sutras  were  actually  spoken  by  Buddha.  The 
Visitor  evidently  belongs  to  the  Tendai,  but  the  Tendai  opened  its  wide 
heart  to  Amida  worship  as  well  as  to  other  forms. 

*  The  sect  of  the  Four  S'astras  is  one  which  never  reached  Japan  ; 
it  was  purely  Chinese. 

*  Fasciculus,  though  rather  a  pedantio  word,  would  be  a  better 
translation  for  the  word  Kwan.  Kwan  is  really  a  bundle  of  six  or 
eight  volumes,  enclosed  in  a  case.  Sixty  kwan  would  therefore  be  860 
Tolumes  at  least. 


"RISSHO  ANKOKU   RON"  319 

and  his  virtue  was  higher  than  that  of  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors. Yet  he  lost  his  way  in  Buddhism,  and  could  not 
lay  hold  of  Nirvana.  Then  he  studied  more  diligently 
and  meditated  more  profoundly  than  he  had  ever  done 
before,  and  at  last,  throwing  aside  the  Sutras,  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  invocation  of  Amida's  Name.  This  he  did 
by  revelation,^  having  been  commanded  to  hand  down  to 
posterity  the  practice  of  the  Nembutsu. 

Men  spoke  of  him  as  an  incarnation  of  Seishi,  or  that 
he  was  Zendo  come  to  Hfe  again,  and  crowds  of  all  ranks 
and  of  both  sexes  flocked  to  his  sermons.  His  doctrines 
have  now  stood  the  test  of  many  years,  and  yet  you 
presume  to  set  yourself  up  against  the  authority  of 
S'akyamuni,  and  to  deride  the  faith  in  Amida. 

Why  do  you  lay  on  the  august  administration  the  blame 
for  the  misfortunes  of  recent  years  ?  And  how  do  you 
dare  to  abuse  the  teachers  and  saints  of  the  preceding 
ages  ?  You  are  blowing  hair  to  find  a  wound  ;  you  are 
cutting  the  skin  to  make  the  blood  flow.^  I  have  been 
astonished  at  the  violence  of  your  language,  and  I  advise 
you  to  be  cautious  and  to  fear,  lest  trouble  befall  you. 
Even  now  it  is  risky  to  be  seen  speaking  to  you. 

(Rises  from  his  seat,  takes  his  cane,  and  prepares  to 
leave  the  house.) 

The  Master  (detaining  his  visitor,  and  smiling).  A 

>  Thia  was  in  a.d.  1206  or  1207.     Honea  (otherwise  known  as  fi 
Genku)  acted  upon  it,  left  Hieizan,  built  himself  a  cabin  at  Kurodani,  JAaJL/ 
near  Kyoto,  and  there  commenced  his  preaching  of  salvation  by  faith,  (Ti,.. 
thus  being  the  foimder   of  the   older   Jodo.    It  is  noteworthy  that     M-ITU, 
Nichiren  never  attacks  his  contemporary  Shinran,  who  went  much  , 
further  than  Honen  in  his  preaching  of  Faith.    This  is,  I  think,  due  K'iA/t^i 
to  the  fact  that  Shinran's  activities  were  at  that  time  confined  to 
remote  districts. 

-  Proverbial  expressions  for  needlessly  scratching  old  sores  or  raking 
up  forgotten  controversies. 


320         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

bitter  taste  and  a  bad  smell  are  nothing  when  we  are  used 
to  them.  But  when  you  are  not  used  to  a  thing  you  are  apt 
to  be  troubled  by  it.  When  you  hear  truth  for  the  j&rst 
time  you  think  it  is  falsehood  ;  you  mistake  a  rogue  at  a 
first  glance  for  a  saint,  and  a  true  teacher  for  a  false 
prophet.  But  let  me  explain  the  whole  matter  to  you. 
When  our  master  Shaka  was  preaching  the  Sutras  of  his 
whole  Ufe  arranged  according  to  the  Five  Periods,  he 
preached  his  doctrines  in  a  consecutive  series  so  that  he 
might  the  more  easily  distinguish  the  apparent  Truth  from 
the  Absolute.^  Donran,  Doshaku,  and  Zendo,  however, 
seized  hold  of  an  Apparent  Truth,  and  forgot  the  Absolute 
Truth  that  was  yet  to  come.  They  did  not  understand 
the  whole  Truth  of  Buddhism.  Honen  was  worse  than 
they,  for  instead  of  merely  following,  he  went  beyond 
them,  and  advocated  the  giving  up,  closing,  laying  aside, 
and  flinging  away  of  all  the  many  thousand  works  of  the 
Mahayana  Scriptures,  as  well  as  of  all  the  innumerable 
Buddhas,  Bodhisattvas,  and  gods.  And  it  was  by  such 
preaching  that  he  deceived  the  people.** 

>  According  to  the  "  Five  Periods,"  Shaka  preached  (i)  the  Kegon, 
which  was  absolute  Truth,  but  which  was  too  strong  for  mortal  ears. 
The  Kegon  was  delivered  in  the  Heavenly  Regions ;  (ii)  Agon,  the 
elementary  truth  of  the  Agamas  for  ordinary  mortals ;  (iii)  Hannya ; 
and  (iv)  Hodo,  periods  of  apparent  Truth,  i.e.  absolute  Truth  adapted 
to  the  circumstances  and  capabilities  of  the  hearers — "  accommoda- 
tions ;  (v)  Hokke-Nehan,  "  absolute  Truth."  Between  Amidaists  and 
others  the  controversy  is,  which  Sutras  most  truly  represent  this 
period,  the  Saddharma  pundarika,  or  the  Amida  books?  It  is  very 
difficult  to  decide;  it  is  also  very  difficult  to  fit  the  three  Amida 
Sutras  into  any  place  in  the  Canon. 

<  One  difficulty  which  Amidaists  have  to  face  is  that  their  doctrine 
of  the  Sole  Supremacy  of  Amida  is  not  quite  borne  out  by  the  teaching 
of  the  three  books  themselves,  in  which  there  are  many  other  Buddhas 
mentioned,  though  undoubtedly  in  inferior  positions  to  Amida.  But 
of  the  joy  with  which  the  common  people  heard  this  simplified  doctrine 
(from  whatever  source  it  was  taken)  there  can  be  no  doubt. 


"RISSHO   ANKOKU   RON"  321 

But  in  all  this  he  was  preaching,  not  Buddhism,  but 
his  own  private  opinions.  He  was  a  deceiver  {mogo)  and 
blasphemer  (akku)  such  as  we  have  but  seldom  seen 
hitherto,  though  now  there  are  many  of  them,  and  it  is 
a  great  pity  that  so  many  people  should  be  captivated  by 
his  preaching  and  admire  his  Senchaku.  The  Books  are 
now  neglected,  for  no  one  reads  anything  but  the  three 
Sutras  of  the  Pure  Land ;  it  is  all  the  Buddha  of  the 
Western  Paradise  now,  and  the  other  Buddhas  and 
Saints  may  go  hang !  A  man  hke  Honen  can  only  be 
termed  the  pronounced  enemy  of  the  Buddhas,  of  the 
Scriptures,  of  the  Saints,  and  of  the  common  people. 
It  is  a  terrible  calamity  that  this  heresy  should  have  spread 
so  widely. 

You  found  fault  with  me  just  now  for  laying  the 
blame  of  our  recent  calamities  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
present  administration.  I  have  been  afraid  of  the  con- 
sequences myself,  but  allow  me  to  give  you  a  few  historical 
examples  to  prove  my  assertion.  [The  historical  examples 
are  taken  from  China,  and  are  intended  to  prove  that 
when  a  Government  neglects  to  promote  the  interests  of 
true  rehgion  the  country  always  has  to  suffer  for  it.  The 
most  striking  instance  is  that  of  the  troubles  from  invasions 
by  barbarians  which  followed  the  Tang  Emperor  Wutsung's 
attacks  on  Buddhism  in  the  seventh  century  a.d.] 
Honen  himself  lived  during  the  administration  of  Gotoba ;  ^ 


»  The  Emperor  Gotoba  reigned  from  a.d.  1184-1198.  Then  he 
abdicated  in  favour  of  his  son  Tsuchimikado,  and  became  a  monk. 
But  as  I  a  monk  (Gotoba-in)  he  continued  to  direct  affairs  in  the  name 
of  his  two  sons,  Tsuchimikado  and  Juntoku,  When,  in  1219,  the  real 
power  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Hojo  family,  Gotoba  tried  to  recover 
the  lost  prestige  of  the  Crown,  but  was  utterly  defeated.  The  Hojo 
used  their  victory  without  mercy.  Gotoba,  Tsuchimikado,  Juntoku, 
were  all  banished,  and  Juntoku's  baby  son,  Chukyo,  deposed  after  a 
reign  of  only  seventy  days.     And  yet  the  stupid  hyper-loyalists  of 

Y 


322    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

we  cannot  find,  even  in  the  history  of  the  Tang,  a  more 
striking  instance  than  that.  Please  do  not  doubt  or 
wonder  at  what  I  say.  It  is  our  duty  to  turn  from 
wickedness  and  to  follow  after  justice ;  to  check  wickedness 
at  its  source,  and  cut  evil  at  the  root. 

The  Visitor.  I  catch  your  drift,  though  I  do  not  fully 
understand  your  meaning.  I  would,  however,  suggest 
that  Buddhism  is  a  wide  topic,  and  that  there  are  many 
ways  of  looking  at  it.  By  the  way,  have  you  ever  yet 
presented  a  memorial  to  the  authorities  on  this  matter  ? 
Until  you  have  done  so,  you,  a  man  of  the  middle  classes, 
have  no  right  to  speak  as  you  do. 

The  Master.  It  is  quite  true.  I  am  an  insignificant 
person.  Still,  I  have  some  knowledge  of  the  Mahayana, 
and  I  know  that  a  fly  can  ride  a  thousand  miles  on  the 
tail  of  a  racehorse,  and  that  ivy  can  climb  a  thousand  feet 
with  the  help  of  a  pine  tree.  I  am  the  servant  of  the 
Buddhas,  and  owe  them  fealty.  How  can  I  help  being 
grieved  when  I  hear  the  ruin  of  my  Faith  ?  It  is  said,  in 
the  Sutra  of  the  Great  Decease,  that  if  a  monk  sees  a  man 
injuring  Buddhism  and  fails  to  reprove  him,  he  is  a 
worthless  brother  ;  but  that  if  he  speaks  up  and  reproves 
him,  he  is  a  true  brother.  I  am  scarcely  worthy  to  be 
called  a  monk,  yet  I  am  trying  to  do  my  duty. 

Are  you  aware  that  during  the  year  of  Gennin  (1224-5) 
the  monks  of  the  Enryakuji  and  Kofukuji  ^  memoriahzed 

Japan  try  to  make  out  that  the  Japanese  loyalty  to  the  sovereign 
has  always  been  a  far  superior  article  to  anything  produced  elsewhere  I 
Gotoba  was  a  steadfast  patron  of  Honen  Shonin.  Hence  Nichiren's 
criticism. 

•  These    two    temples,   the   one   at    Hieizan,   the  other   at  Nam,^ 
represent  practically  the  old  Indian  sects"  and  the  newly  es^abUsned 
Japonioized  establishment.    It  is  as  though  we  should  say  "  Canbgi- 
bury  and  Westminster,"  to  denote  Anglicans  and  Boman  Catholics 
in  England. 


"RISSHO   ANKOKU  RON"  323 

the  throne  on  the  subject  of  the  punishment  of  Honen," 
and  that,  in  consequence,  the  plates  from  which  the 
Senchaku  was  printed  were  forfeited,  and  pubUcly  burned 
as  a  thankoffering  for  the  mercies  of  the  Buddhas  of  the 
Three  Worlds  ?  Did  you  know  that  Inujin-nin  of  the 
Kanjin-in  ^  was  ordered  to  destroy  the  tomb  of  Honen  ? 
Or  that  Honen's  disciples,  Ryukwan,  Shoko,  Jogaku,  and 
Sassho,*^  were  sent  into  exile  and  have  not  yet  been 
pardoned  ?  I  don't  think  you  can  say  that  the  authorities 
have  not  been  memorialized  on  the  subject. 

The  Visitor  (somewhat  mollified),  I  quite  agree  with 
you  that  Honen  did  advise  his  disciples  to  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  Sutras,  or  with  the  other  Buddhas  and 
Bodhisattvas.  What  he  always  impressed  upon  his  dis- 
ciples was  that  they  ought  constantly  to  pray  to  Amida, 
and  if  men  would  always  pray,  the  country  would  be  at 
peace.  The  peace  of  the  country  is  what  we  all  desire.  I 
cannot  see  how  it  can  be  the  duty  of  the  Government  to 
put  these  people  down. 

The  Master.  I  am  not  speaking  from  my  own  wisdom. 
I  can  but  repeat  that  which  I  find  in  the  Sutras.  And 
there  I  find  the  doctrine  laid  down  most  clearly.  I 
cannot  quote  all  the  instances  ;  I  will  give  a  few.  [Here 
follow  various  instances  from  Sutras  in  which  the  doctrine 
is  laid  down  that  the  extirpation  of  heretics  with  the 
sword  is  the  duty  of  every  right-minded  Government. 
S'akyamuni  is  brought  in  in  one  case  as  relating  that  in  a 
previous  existence,  when  he  was  the  king  of  a  country  in 
Southern  India,  he  had  once  slain  a  Brahman  for  speaking 
evil  of  Buddhism.     But  he  had  not  suffered  for  his  crime 

*  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  the  particulars  about  this  incident. 

*  It  is  noteworthy  that  Shinran  is  never  mentioned  by  Nichiren, 
Still,  though  Shinran's  main  activities  lay  in  districts  far  remote  from 
the  places  where  Nichiren  laboured,  he  was  also  exiled. 


324    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

in  hell,  because  the  Brahman  was  a  heretic,  and  the 
killing  of  a  heretic  is  no  murder.^]  Thus  Buddha  pro- 
vided for  the  preservation  of  his  doctrines.  But  these 
men,  the  slanderers  of  Buddhism,  have  departed  from  the 
true  ways.  They  have  made  graven  images  of  Honen 
himself,  and  have  carried  his  impious  opinions  from  one 
end  of  the  Empire  to  another.  They  have  mutilated  the 
images  of  Shaka,  and  placed  Amida  in  his  stead.  They 
have  removed  Akshobya  from  his  seat,  and  placed  thereon 
the  Lord  of  the  Western  Paradise.  They  have  ceased  to 
copy  out  and  reverence  the  Scriptures,  and  their  zeal 
is  only  for  the  Three  Books  of  the  Pure  Land.  They 
refuse  to  hear  the  lectures  of  Tendai  Daishi,^  and  have 
ears  only  for  those  of  Zendo.  Woe  be  to  this  people. 
They  disregard  the  warnings  of  S'akyamuni,  and  listen  to 
the  fooHsh  words  of  the  false  prophets.  If  a  man  wish  to 
secure  the  peace  of  the  country,  let  him  first  begin  by 
bridling  the  slanderers  of  Buddhism. 

The  Visitor.  But  is  it  necessary  to  punish  with  death 
such  transgressions  against  rehgion  ?  Do  the  Sutras  you 
quote  bear  you  out  in  this  ?  Is  not  such  a  punishment 
in  reaUty  a  murder,  and  is  not  murder  a  sin  ?  I  find 
it  written  in  the  Mahdsampdta  Sutra,  that  "  when  a  man 
shaves  his  head  and  assumes  the  monk's  cowl,  whether  he 
keep  the  commandments  or  not,  he  is  one  whom  angels 
and  men  should  reverence,  for  he  is  a  son  of  Mine.    To 

'  It  would  be  amusing,  if  it  were  not  so  inexpressibly  sad,  to 
remember  that  this  treatise  was  written  in  1258.  In  1229  the  Council 
of  Toulouse  revised  the  measures  of  Innocent  III.  for  "  the  detection 
and  punishment  of  heretics,"  and  in  1232  the  Inquisition  in  several 
countries  was  put  into  the  hands  of  the  Dominicans.  Three  centuries 
later,  the  Dominicans  and  Nichirenists  meet  face  to  face  in  Japan  I 
The  parallel  is  very  striking;  it  is  one  of  the  bitterest  sarcasms  of 
history. 

*  Not  Dengyo,  but  the  original  founder  of  the  Tendai  in  Cb^iria, 


"RISSHO   ANKOKU   RON"  325 

thrash  him  is  to  thrash  a  son  of  Mine,  to  revile  him  is  to 
revile  Me."  Now,  is  it  right  for  me  to  grieve  the  heart  of 
our  Great  Father  by  injuring  his  sons  ?  The  man  who 
attacked  Maudgalyayana  fell  into  the  lowest  hell,  and 
Devadatta,  for  the  murder  of  an  ecclesiastic,  suffered  long 
and  continued  torments.  I  cannot  accept  your  doctrine, 
I  cannot  agree  with  your  views.  You  may  perhaps  be 
able  to  prevent  men  from  slandering  the  law  of  Buddha, 
but  you  will  only  do  so  by  violating  the  Precepts. 

The  Master.  After  all  that  you  have  heard,  after  all 
my  quotations  from  the  Scriptures,  do  you  still  hold  this 
position  ?  Can  you  not  perceive  the  truth  of  my  argu- 
ments ?  I  am  talking  about  the  hatred  we  should  have 
for  the  slanderers  of  Buddhism  :  I  am  putting  no  limita- 
tions on  the  sons  of  Buddha.  Beheading  was  the  punish- 
ment assigned  by  the  law  of  Buddhism  before  Shaka's 
times  ;  the  principle  of  the  Sutras  since  Nonin  has  been 
only  so  acconunodate  the  principles  of  the  primitive  faith 
to  the  prejudices  of  later  ages.^  If  only  all  classes  of 
people  everywhere  in  the  country  would  unite  in  abjuring 
error  and  following  that  which  is  righteous  and  true,  what 
trouble  or  misfortune  could  happen  ? 

The  Visitor  (composedly).  Buddhism  is  a  very  wide 
subject.  It  embraces  a  very  wide  range  of  opinions,  some 
of  which  are  very  obscure,  so  that  it  is  hard  to  discover 
the  exact  meanings.  Honen's  Senchaku  is  still  in  circula- 
tion, despite  its  condemnation,  and  the  entire  rejection 
of  the  Scriptures,  of  the  Buddhas  and  Bodhisattvas,  is 
still  being  preached.  You  have  given  me  Scriptural 
authority  for  your  assertion  that,  under  such  circumstances, 

'  I  must  confess  myself  to  be  utterly  at  sea  as  to  the  interpretation 
of  this  sentence.  I  do  not  know  where  to  look  for  a  description  of 
Buddhism  before  Buddha,  and  the  Buddhist  dictionary  (Bukkyo  Iroha 
Jiten)  which  I  have  consulted  throws  no  light  on  Nonin  (^  j^.). 


Z2.e         THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

saints  and  good  deities  will  forsake  the  land,  and  I  am  more 
than  half  convinced  by  your  arguments.  And  it  is  my 
sincere  desire  that  the  country  henceforth  may  be  peaceful 
and  happy,  from  the  sovereign  on  the  throne  to  the  lowest 
classes  of  the  people.  If  we  cease  paying  reverence  to 
a  single  heretic,  and,  instead,  reverence  the  mass  of  the 
priesthood,  we  can,  I  think,  calm  the  white  waves  on  the 
sea  of  Buddhism  and  clear  its  mountain-sides  of  scrub, 
so  that  our  land  will  compare  with  the  happiest  periods 
of  Chinese  history,  and  men  shall  rightly  appreciate  the 
good  points  of  Buddhism  by  noting  its  depths  and  its 
shallows. 

T/ie  Mooter  (highly  gratified).  Ah!  A  dove  transformed 
into  an  eagle,  a  sparrow  into  a  clam  !  This  is  delightful. 
You  have  come  here  and  have  been  enlightened.  It  is 
true :  if  men  will  consider  our  misfortunes  in  this  light, 
and  will  believe  the  words  of  Scripture,  then  the  storms 
will  abate,  and  the  billows  settle  down,  and  the  harvest  be 
plenteous.  But,  unfortunately,  men's  minds  change  with 
their  circumstances,  like  the  reflection  of  the  moon  on 
waters,  smooth  and  rough,  like  the  aspect  of  an  army  with 
its  swords  sheathed,  and  with  them  drawn  and  brandished. 
You  believe  me  now,  but  what  guarantee  have  I  that  you 
will  not  speedily  forget  your  good  resolutions  ?  But 
mark  my  words,  if  you  wish  the  country  to  be  peaceful 
and  blest,  you  must  consider  well,  and  punish  the  wrong. 

Five  misfortunes  out  of  the  seven  mentioned  in  the 
Yakushi  Kyo  have  befallen  us.  Two  stiU  remain — a 
foreign  invasion  and  a  rebellion.^ 

Two  of  the  three  mentioned  in  the  Mahdsampdta  Sutra 
have  been  fulfilled,  the  one  remaining  is  a  foreign  war. 

>  The  invasion  came  in  1280 ;  the  rebellions  were  really  going  on  all 
the  while. 


"RISSHO  ANKOKU   RON"  327 

Of  all  the  misfortunes  mentioned  in  the  Suvarnajprabhasa 
and  in  the  Ninndkyo,  but  one  remains  that  we  have 
not  yet  experienced,  the  misfortune  of  foreign  invasion. 
When  a  country  is  badly  governed,  the  first  result  is 
that  the  deities  are  disturbed :  when  the  deities  are 
disturbed,  the  minds  of  the  people  are  thrown  into 
confusion.  When  I  consider  these  Scriptural  prophecies 
and  then  look  at  the  world  around  me,  I  am  bound  to 
confess  that  both  the  gods  and  the  minds  of  the  people 
are  confused.  You  see  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy 
in  the  past :  dare  we  say  that  the  remaining  prophecies 
will  fail  of  their  fulfilment  ?  And  if,  by  reason  of  the 
bad  state  of  our  rehgion,  these  remaining  calamities 
should  come  upon  us,  in  what  condition  are  we  to  bear 
them? 

An  Emperor  can  rule,  because  he  is  the  Lord  of  his 
country  ;  a  Prince  can  rule,  because  he  is  the  owner  of 
his  barony.  But  if  a  foreign  invasion  should  come,  or  if 
rebeUion  should  raise  its  head  amongst  us,  what  then  ? 
If  country  and  home  be  lost,  whither  shall  we  turn  ? 
Is  it  not  right  to  pray  for  one's  country,  if  one  desires  its 
welfare  ? 

But  now  men  are  anxious  about  their  happiness  in 
the  world  to  come.  So,  forgetting  present  duties,  they 
listen  to  the  words  of  this  heresy,  and  reverence  the 
blasphemer  of  the  Buddhas.  They  do  it  in  ignorance : 
they  have  no  desire  to  turn  from  the  right  way,  and  yet 
they  have  not  the  courage  to  follow  the  true  Buddhism. 
In  their  hearts  they  are  faithful — ^why,  then,  do  they  give 
ear  to  this  heresy  ?  They  will  die  in  their  stubborn 
ignorance,  and  their  souls  wiU  not  return  to  the  earth, 
but  will  sink  to  the  bottomless  pit  of  Hell  {mugen  no 
jigoku). 

It  is  said  in  the  Mahdsamjpdta  Sutra,  that  though  a 


328         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

king  be  respectful  towards  the  clergy,  though  he  obey 
the  precepts  of  moraUty,  though  he  have  wisdora  to 
discern  the  right  from  the  wrong,  yet  if  he  fail  to  protect 
Buddhism  from  the  attacks  that  are  made  against  it,  his 
rule  will  only  serve  to  bring  unhappiness  to  his  land, 
sickness  and  misery  to  himself,  his  queen,  his  children, 
and  his  courtiers,  and  in  the  end  he  will  fall  into  Hell. 
The  same  is  the  testimony  of  the  Ninnokyo.  As  sure  as 
the  sound  follows  the  striking  of  the  drum,  as  sure  as  the 
shadow  follows  the  substance,  or  as  characters  written  in 
the  hght  remain  (though  invisible)  after  the  light  has  been 
extinguished,  so  surely  is  it  a  fact  that  a  grievous  sin 
brings  its  own  punishment.  And  what  sin  more  grievous 
than  to  blaspheme  against  the  Buddhas  ? 

Woe  imto  them !  They  have  missed  the  entrance 
gate  that  leads  to  the  true  Buddhism,  and  have  fallen 
into  the  prison-house  of  a  false  sect.  They  are  fettered, 
entangled,  bewildered.  Whither  will  their  bUnd  wander- 
ings lead  them  ?  Stir  up,  I  pray  you,  your  shght  desire 
for  salvation  and  devote  yourself  with  your  whole  mind 
to  the  unique  excellence  of  the  True  Vehicle. 

If  you  do  this,  then  shall  the  Three  Worlds  become 
truly  Buddha  Lands,  and  the  Ten  Quarters  treasure- 
houses  that  cannot  be  destroyed.  If  there  be  no  decay 
and  no  destruction,  the  body  will  be  in  health,  and  the 
mind  at  rest.    And  the  country  will  be  in  peace. 

[The  rest  of  the  dialogue  is  unimportant.  The  visitor 
professes  himself  converted  to  the  Master's  views,  and 
promises  to  take  part  in  the  active  warfare  against 
heresy.] 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

The  Mongols 

In  the  year  1282,  Nichiren,  reviewing  his  own  life,  said 
that  there  were  three  things  for  which  he  considered  him- 
self deserving  of  commendation.^  He  had  published  his 
treatise  of  "Kissho  Ankoku,"  and  presented  a  copy  to  the 
Regent,  at  great  personal  risk  to  himself,  thereby  caUing 
the  Regent's  attention  to  the  evils  of  the  State,  and  the 
only  apparent  remedy  for  them.  He  had  next,  some  years 
later,  dared  to  tell  the  same  exalted  personage  that  the 
only  safety  for  the  State  lay  in  the  adoption  of  the  doctrines 
which  he  himself  so  earnestly  advocated.  This  boldness 
had  almost  cost  him  his  Hfe.  And,  lastly,  not  content  with 
general  warnings  about  the  Mongols,  he  had  foretold  the 
exact  time  when  the  much-dreaded  invasion  was  going  to 
take  place,  and  events  had  fuUy  justified  his  prophecy. 

We  have  spoken  of  Nichiren's  famous  writing ;  we 
have  also  treated  of  the  doctrines  which  he  preached  in 
season  and  out.  It  remains  for  us  to  speak  of  the  Mongols 
and  their  attempted  invasion  of  Japan. 

Central  and  North-Eastern  Asia  was  for  centuries  the 
cradle  of  fierce  and  barbarous  races  which  started  out 
on  a  career  of  conquest,  and  acquired  permanent  homes 
for  themselves  in  the  fertile  and  more  favoured  districts 
of    Europe.    Scythians    and    Goths,  Alans    and  Huns, 

*  "  Seigoroku." 


330         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

Bulgarians  and  Cumani,  Yuetchi  and  Uighurs,were  merely 
"  reshuffles  of  the  same  cards,"  ^  different  strata,  as  it 
were,  of  the  same  peoples,  going  forth  from  their  homes  in 
Central  Asia  to  worry  the  civiUzed  nations  of  two  conti- 
nents. 

In  the  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  fourteenth  centuries,  it 
was  the  Mongolian  power  that  made  itself  feared  through- 
out the  world.^  The  Mongols  and  the  Tartars  were,  as  it 
were,  the  aristocracy  and  plehs  of  a  large  semi-barbarous 
tribe  of  nomad  herdsmen,  hunters,  and  warriors,  whose 
home  lay  to  the  north  of  China  proper,  around  the  Gobi 
Desert,  by  the  banks  of  the  Amur  river,  and  among  the 
mountains  south  of  Lake  Baikal.  Here  was  bom  in  the 
year  1162,  in  the  tent  of  the  tribal  chief,  a  child  to  whom 
was  given  the  name  of  Temujin,  a  name  afterwards  ex- 
changed for  that  of  Gengis-Khan,  or  the  Perfect  Warrior.^ 
Gengis  Khan  in  due  time  succeeded  to  the  chieftaincy  of 
the  Mongol  and  Tartar  tribes  (1206),  and  then  commenced 
a  series  of  victories,  campaigns,  and  conquests,  which  fairly 
throws  the  exploits  of  Alexander  and  Napoleon  into  the 
shade,  the  Mongol  conqueror  having  this  advantage  over 
his  two  European  rivals,  that  he  was  able  to  transmit  his 

power  and  miUtary  genius  to  descendants  as  remarkable 

I 

*  H.  E.  Parker, 

*  I  have  consulted  D'Ohsson's  "Histoire  des  Mongols,"  Karam- 
sin's  "History  of  the  Russian  Empire"  (German  trans.),  and  Black, 
"  Proselytes  of  Ishmael," 

*  It  has  pleased  certain  Japanese  writers  to  identify  Genghis  Khan 
with  Yoshitsune,  the  popular  hero  of  the  Minamoto,  who  disappears 
from  Japanese  history  in  the  year  1189,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one.  No 
proof  can  be  given  for  the  assumption.  It  is  made  to  rest  on  the 
Sinico-Japanese  reading  of  the  name  Minnamoto  Yoshitsune,  which  is 
Oen  Oikyo,  a  fair  approximation  to  Genghis  Khan.  Yoshitsune  cer- 
tainly had  the  same  adventurous  spirit  that  is  to  be  found  in  Gengis 
Khan  and  his  descendants,  and  the  suggested  identification  is  a  very 
flattering  one  to  certain  Japanese  minds. 


THE   MONGOLS  331 

and  as  talented  as  himself.  The  first  conquests  of  the 
Mongols  were  in  Northern  China ;  their  next  exploit  was 
the  overthrow  of  the  Chowaresmian  Kingdom,  which 
reached  from  India  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  with  its  capital  at 
Bokhara.  From  the  Caspian  to  Eussia  was  but  a  step  ;  in 
1237  (only  thirty  years  after  Gengis  Khan's  election)  his 
grandson  Batu,  at  the  head  of  a  Mongol  army,  had  subdued 
Eussia,  burnt  Moscow  and  Khiew,  and  compelled  the 
Eussian  princes  to  do  him  homage  and  pay  tribute  to  the 
Great  Khan,  his  uncle  Octal,  the  son  of  Genghis,  who  ruled 
at  Karakorum,  somewhere  halfway  in  a  straight  line 
between  Pekin  and  Lake  Baikal.  Entering  Poland  and 
Silesia,  they  were  met  by  a  German  army  at  Wahlstatt  in 
1241,  and,  though  victors  in  the  battle,  pushed  their 
advances  no  further  in  this  direction  ;  but,  devoting  them- 
selves to  the  strengthening  of  their  dominions  in  South 
Eussia,  pushed  their  conquests  into  Hungary,  drove  the 
king  of  that  country  to  take  refuge  on  an  island  off  the 
coast  of  Dalmatia,  and  advanced  to  within  two  days'  march 
of  Vienna.  Their  line  of  march  was  everywhere  marked 
by  terrible  traces  of  vindictive  cruelty.  They  spared 
neither  age  nor  sex,  neither  town  nor  country,  neither 
palace  nor  church.  They  had  no  respect  for,  and  less  fear 
of,  the  chivalry  of  Europe.  They  knew  that  Christendom 
was  a  conglomeration  of  States  hostile  to  each  other ;  they 
knew,  also,  that  the  best  elements  in  Christendom  were 
frittering  away  their  strength  in  vain  attempts  to  recover 
the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  so  long  as  it  pleased  Western 
Europe  to  keep  up  the  Crusades,  they  did  not  trouble 
themselves  much  about  attacking  the  Saracens.  Never- 
theless, in  1258,  their  Asiatic  armies  overthrew  the  Khali- 
fate  of  Bagdad  and  destroyed  that  city,  and  when, 
between  1274  and  1279,  Kublai  Khan,  the  grandson  and 
fourth  successor  of  Gengis  Khan,  added  the  whole  of  China 


332         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

to  the  dominions  of  the  Mongols,  their  Empire  could  fairly 
claim  to  be  the  largest  that  the  world  had  ever  seen.  It 
embraced  the  whole  of  Asia  (except  Hindustan,  which  was 
afterwards  conquered,  Burma,  Siam,  Arabia,  and  Japan), 
the  whole  of  European  Russia,  and  the  eastern  half  of 
Hungary. 

When  Kublai  Khan  was  in  the  midst  of  his  conquests  in 
China,  having  already  overthrown  the  dynasty  of  the  Kin, 
and  being  then  meditating  the  subjugation  of  the  rival 
dynasty  of  the  Sung,  he  remembered  the  Empire  of  Japan, 
as  having  been  at  one  time  in  the  habit  of  sending  presents 
to  the  Tang  Emperors,  which  those  rulers  accepted  as 
tribute.  At  once,  in  1268,  he  sent  an  arrogant  letter  to  the 
Regent,  demanding  the  submission  of  Japan  to  the  rule  of 
the  Mongol  Khans,  and  the  transmission  of  tribute  in 
recognition  of  that  suzerainty.  We  know  what  was  the 
tenour  of  that  letter.  The  Mongols  had  for  several  years 
been  sending  the  most  insulting  and  arrogant  epistles  to 
the  Russian  princes,  the  Kings  of  Hungary  and  France,  the 
Emperor  of  Germany,  and  even  the  Pope,  and  the  letter  to 
the  Regent  of  Japan  was  couched  in  no  less  arrogant 
language  than  the  other  missives.  But  H6j5  Tokimune 
was  a  match  for  the  Tartar  Khan  (were  they  not  all  chips 
of  the  same  block?  and  may  not  Japanese  blood  have 
been  mixed  with  that  of  the  Mongol  chiefs  ?),  and  well 
understood  the  art  of  meeting  arrogance  with  arrogance. 
The  first  letter  was  left  without  an  answer.  A  second  letter, 
sent  with  an  embassy  in  1271,  was  returned  unopened. 
In  1274  Kublai  sent  a  fleet  of  150  ships,  which  ravaged  Tsu- 
shima and  Ikishima,  and  effected  a  landing  at  Imatsu  in 
Chikuzen,  an  expedition  which  might  have  been  very 
serious  had  not  the  Mongol  commander  been  killed  in 
battle  and  a  large  part  of  the  fleet  destroyed  by  a  typhoon. 
Tokimune  must  have  known  by  this  time  that  he  was 


THE   MONGOLS  333 

running  tremendous  risks  in  opposing  a  Power  whose 
rulers  openly  boasted  that  they  were  lords  over  the  whole 
earth  ;  yet  he  never  swerved  from  the  line  he  had  taken 
up  of  meeting  arrogance  with  pride.  In  1276,  Kublai  sent 
an  ambassador  to  Kamakura.  Tokimune  caused  him  to 
be  led  out  to  Tatsu  no  Kuchi  (the  same  spot  that  had 
witnessed  the  attempted  execution  of  Nichiren),  and  there 
beheaded  him.  Two  others,  who  came  on  the  same  errand, 
were  beheaded  at  Hakata  in  Kyushu,  as  soon  as  ever  they 
landed  on  Japanese  soil.  Further  hostiUties  were  now 
unavoidable.  In  1279,  Tokimune  ordered  the  Daimyos  of 
Kyushii  and  the  West  to  prepare  to  resist  a  hostile  invasion. 
In  1281,  an  Armada,  carrying  100,000  Mongols  and  10,000 
Koreans,  appeared  off  Dazaifu  in  Kyushu,  having  ravaged 
the  island  of  Iki  on  the  way.  The  invaders  landed  at 
Goryu-san  in  Hizen,  where  they  met  with  a  strenuous 
resistance.  At  the  end  of  a  week's  fighting,  neither  army 
could  claim  to  have  gained  much  advantage.  Then  came 
one  of  those  terrible  storms  that  from  time  to  time  visit 
the  shores  of  Japan  ;  the  invaders  were  obHged  to  look  to 
the  safety  of  their  ships  ;  they  were  literally  "  between  the 
Devil  and  the  deep  sea,"  and,  being  in  that  awkward  pre-  1 
dicament,  were  practically  annihilated.  Of  _  all_,the  I 
mediaeval  nations  of  Asia  and  Europe  that  were  obliged  to 
face  those  terrible  conquerors  in  the  heyday  of  their  power,  \ 
Japan  was  the  only  one  that  scored  a  complete  victory.! 
It  was  also  probably  the  only  one  that  absolutely  refused.! 
to  be  cowed  by  Tartar  bluster. 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  our  present  concern  with 
the  Mongol  invasion  of  Japan  is  its  bearing  on  the  reUgious 
history  of  that  country. 

We  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter  that  Nichiren 
expounded  a  system  of  millenarianism  very  similar  to  that 
which  the   Franciscan  Abbot  Joachim  advocated  in  his 


334    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Commentaries  on  the  Book  of  Eevelation,  between  1170 
and  1200,  a.d.  Abbot  Joachim's  work  enjoyed  a  very- 
great  reputation  during  those  last  years  of  the  twelfth 
century.  Is  it  possible  that  these  two  sets  of  Apocalyptic 
speculations  can  in  any  sense  have  had  a  common  source 
or  origin  ? 

First,  I  would  mention  the  fact  that  Abbot  Joachim 
travelled  in  the  East  as  a  young  man,  before  commencing 
his  work  on  the  Apocalypse.  It  is  quite  possible  that  he 
may  have  there  gathered  the  ideas  which  he  afterwards  put 
into  definite  literary  form  in  his  books. 

Secondly,  it  is  a  certain  fact  that  the  religious  world  of 
Europe  took  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  the  Conversion  to 
Christianity  of  the  Great  Khan  of  Tartary,  and  that  several 
embassies  were  sent  from  Europe  for  that  purpose.  The 
matter  was  brought  before  the  Council  of  Lyons,  in  1245, 
by  Pope  Innocent  IV.,  and  a  resolution  arrived  at  that  the 
Pope  should  send  missionaries  to  the  Mongol  Emperor, 
urging  him  to  abstain  from  further  bloodshed  and  to  turn 
to  the  true  faith.  In  consequence  of  this  resolution. 
Innocent  IV.  sent  two  embassies,  which  left  Rome  the 
following  year.  The  first,  which  consisted  of  four  Domini- 
can monks,  was  sent  to  Persia,  to  plead  with  the  Mongolian 
generals  in  that  country.^  The  second  was  taken  from 
the  Order  of  St.  Francis,  and  consisted  of  Brother  Benedict 
of  Poland,  Brother  Lawrence  of  Portugal,  and  John  de 
Plan  Carpin,  an  Itahan.  This  embassy,  of  which  John  de 
Plan  Carpin  has  left  a  very  minute  account,^  made  its  way 
right  across  Central  Asia  and  Siberia  to  Karakorum,  some- 
where to  the  south  of  Lake  Baikal,  and  was  present  in  that 
city  during  the  whole  of  the  prolonged  ceremonies  connected 

•  Of.  D'Ohsson,  "  Histoire  des  Mongols,"  bk,  ii.  cap.  4,  p.  208. 
^  Karamsin,  ''  Qr^schiohte  des  IluspisoheQ  ^^ichs,"  vol.  iv.  cap.  1, 
pp.  33  ff.  -  '        - .- 


THE  MONGOLS  335 

with  the  election  and  enthronement  of  Mangu,  the 
fourth  of  the  Great  KJians  of  the  Mongols,  and  the  grand- 
son of  Genghis  Khan.  About  the  same  time,  Louis  IX. 
(St.  Louis)  of  France  sent  a  similar  embassy,  which  arrived 
at  Karakorum  a  Uttle  before  the  election  of  Mangu,  and 
presented  its  credentials  and  letters  to  the  widow  of  the 
late  Khan,  Gaiyuck,  who  was  acting  as  Eegent  during  the 
vacancy  of  the  throne.  Three  Dominicans  (of  whom  one 
was  Kubruquis)  were  charged  with  this  duty,  but  their 
embassy  was  scarcely  a  successful  one,  as  the  Mongols 
interpreted  it  as  an  act  of  submission  on  the  part  of  the 
French  monarch.  Russian  Princes  were  also  compelled, 
as  tributaries  to  the  Mongols,  to  make  periodical  journeys 
to  the  Court  of  the  Mongol  Khans ;  amongst  them  were 
the  sainted  hero  of  the  Russians,  Alexander  Newsky,^  and 
another  brave  man,  also  canonized,  a  certain  Michael,  who 
preferred  martyrdom  at  the  hand  of  the  quick-tempered 
Mongols  rather  than  bow  his  head  before  the  symbols  of 
idolatry. 

We  have  thus  a  very  fair  amount  of  information  as  to 
the  state  of  the  Mongol  Court  in  the  days  before  the 
accession  of  Kublai  Klian,  and  the  singularly  consistent 
information  thus  given  is  reinforced  and  confirmed  by  the 
testimony  of  subsequent  writers,  such  as  OrpeUan,  John  de 
Mandeville,  Marco  Polo,  and  some  Arabs. 

All  the  accounts  represent  the  Mongols  as  monotheists. 
There  is  one  God  in  Heaven,  the  Ruler  and  Judge  of  aU, 
and  there  is  One  Sovereign  upon  Earth,  whose  privilege  it 
is  to  rule  over  the  whole  earth.^  "  God  in  Heaven,  the 
Khan  upon  Earth,"  was  the  motto  which  they  engraved 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  iv.  cap.  i.  p.  30. 

-  The  resemblance  to  Nichiren's  initial  and  oft-repeated  sermon  is 
striking.  There  is  also  a  general  resemblance  in  the  ecclesiastical 
policies  of  the  Mongols  and  Japanese  which  should  be  kept  in  mind. 


336    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

upon  their  oflScial  seals,  and  to  this  short  creed  they  expected 
and  exacted  universal  obedience.  About  further  religious 
details  they  did  not  trouble  themselves  very  much.  One 
of  their  Khans  said  that  there  were  as  many  ways  of 
serving  God  as  there  were  fingers  upon  a  man's  hands,  and 
provided  that  the  Universal  Sovereignty  of  the  Khan  was 
acknowledged,  they  let  men  serve  God  in  any  way  they 
liked.  Nestorian  Christians  were  frequently  found  at 
their  courts,  in  places  of  high  honour,  and  we  sometimes 
read,  in  the  pages  of  D'Ohsson  and  Karamsin,  of  women  in 
Mongol  families  receiving  baptism ;  indeed,  it  was  even  said 
of  Sartac,  son  of  Batu,  who  governed  in  Kussia,  that  he  was 
a  Christian.  The  Mongols,  when  they  had  once  established 
their  rule  in  Eussia,  treated  the  Kussian  Church  with 
kindness  and  consideration,  and  the  MetropoUtan  Cyril 
felt  himself  justified,  says  Karamsin,  in  appointing  an 
archbishop  for  those  portions  of  Russia  which  had  come 
under  direct  Mongol  rule,  and  in  creating  a  special  province 
to  be  under  that  prelate's  jurisdiction.^  Constant  mention 
is  made  of  Christian  services  held  at  the  Great  Khan's 
Court,  under  the  direct  patronage  of  the  Sovereign  and  his 
family. 

This  toleration  led  many  in  Europe  to  believe  (the  more 
readily  because  the  wish  was,  in  this  case,  father  to  the 
thought)  that  the  Khans  of  Tartary  were  about  to  become 
Christians.'^  This  was,  however,  very  far  from  the  truth. 
The  Mongols  had  their  own  rehgion  (which  we  have  already 
explained),  with  priests  or  magicians  (Kame)  of  their  own. 
These  priests  guarded  the  avenues  leading  to  the  palace 
with  magic  rites  and  ceremonies  which  all  were  expected 

•  Karamsin,  op.  cit.,  iv.  1. 

*  The  French  Court  was  on  one  occasion  hoaxed  by  a  pretended 
embassy  which  came  professedly  from  the  Khan  to  ask  for  Christian 
instruction. 


THE   MONGOLS  337 

to  treat  with  reverence.  But  they  tolerated  all  faiths 
alike,  and  the  Buddhist  and  Mahometan  had  exactly  the 
same  privileges  as  the  Nestorian,or  indeed  any  other  species 
of  Christian,  if  he  was  not  hampered  by  a  belief  in  a  Vice- 
gerent of  Heaven  whose  claims  could  clash  with  those  of 
the  Mongol  ruler.  We  are  told  that  on  certain  occasions 
Christian,  Mahometan,  and  Buddhist  priests  would  be 
admitted  in  quick  succession  to  bless  the  food  of  which  the 
Great  Khan  was  about  to  partake,  and  that  all  were  treated 
with  absolute  impartiaUty.  It  is  possible  (and  indeed 
Carpini  expressly  afi&rms  it  of  the  Nestorian  priests)^  that 
there  was  not  much  of  real  rehgion  in  any  of  these  Court 
chaplains  of  various  creeds.  EeUgion  was  at  a  low  ebb 
everywhere  throughout  the  Asiatic  dominions  of  the 
Mongols,  otherwise  this  happy  family  arrangement  could 
not  have  continued  as  it  did ;  one  result,  however,  must} 
have  ensued  from  this  strange  fraternization — the  various 
reUgions  must  have  learned  a  good  deal  about  one  another 
from  their  close  propinquity  at  the  Court. 

Another  fact,  about  which  all  the  writers  are  agreed 
who  have  written  about  the  MongoUan  Court  under  the 
three  or  four  immediate  successors  of  Genghis  Khan,  is 
that,  in  addition  to  priests  and  monks  of  the  various 
rehgions,  there  was  a  considerable  number  of  lay  persons 
from  many  countries.  We  find  mention  of  Frenchmen, 
Itahans,  Enghshmen,  serving  the  Mongols  in  various 
capacities.^  Koreans  were  there,  and  Chinamen.  It  seems 
hard  to  suppose  that  there  were  no  Japanese.  It  was  still 
the  practice  of  Japanese  in  those  days  to  cross  to  China  for 
purposes  of  study  and  research,  and  the  Mongols,  Uving  as 
they  did  on  the  northern  frontiers  of  the  Celestial  Empire, 
were  looked  upon  as  half  Chinese,  long  before  Kublai  made 

•  Of.  D'Ohsson,  "  Hiat.  des  Mongols,"  vol.  ii.  chap.  i. 
»  D'Ohsson. 


338    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

himself  Emperor  of  China  on  the  overthrow  of  the  Sung 
dynasty.  There  does  not  seem  to  have  lurked  in  the 
Japanese  mind  any  suspicion  as  to  Mongol  designs  until 
Nichiren's  writings  and  preachings  forced  the  authorities 
to  be  on  their  guard  against  the  danger.^ 

If,  therefore,  we  put  all  these  considerations  together, 
we  shall  see  that  it  is  far  from  impossible  that  some  of 
Abbot  Joachim's  speculations  may  have  been  derived 
from  the  same  sources  which  furnished  the  religious 
writers  of  Japan  with  the  materials  for  their  speculations, 
though  through  a  different  channel.  There  is  a  law  of 
action  and  re-action  in  the  world  of  ideas  as  well  as  in 
more  material  spheres. 

D'Ohsson  (op.  cit,  vol.  ii.  p.  265)  tells  us  in  a  note  that 
the  Mongols  called  the  Christians  Arcaoun  or  Arkhaioun. 
I  have  not  been  able  to  identify  this  word  absolutely  in  the 
only  Mongolian  Dictionaries  accessible  to  me ;  but  I  venture 
to  conjecture  that  it  is  the  same  word  as  the  Sanskrit  Arhat, 
which  appears  in  ordinary  Japanese  as  Bakan,  but  which 
Nichiren  seems  consistently  to  have  written  as  Arakan^^ 
It  is  quite  probable  that  the  Christianity  of  the  Nestorians 
may  have  appeared  to  the  Mongohans  as  merely  a  variant 
form  of  Buddhism  ;  for  the  Buddhism  of  Central  Asia  and 
China  embraced  in  its  wide  bosom  a  very  varied  assortment 

'  Dr.  Haas,  in  his  "  Chronological  Notes  on  Buddhism  in  Japan," 
published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Deutsche  Gesellschaft  fur  Natur 
und  Volkerkunde  Ostasiens  (Tokyo),  mentions  five  or  six  priests  who 
went  over  to  China  during  this  period,  some  of  whom  made  very  long 
stays ;  and  there  were  probably  others.  Nichiren's  information  about 
the  doings  of  the  Mongols  was  so  very  accurate  that  he  must  have  had 
an  informant  who  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  what  he  related. 

*  "  Seigoroku,"  p.  208.  Nichiren  seems  to  have  been  almost  pedantic 
in  his  use  of  Sanskrit  words  rather  than  the  popular  Sinico-Japanese 
corruptions.  Kowalewsky  (vol.  i.  pp.  144,  150)  and  Schmidt  (p.  4, 
col,  a)  give  a  word,  connected  with  the  Sanskrit  arhat,  which  seems  to 
be  pronounced  archaiun,  and  which  means  "  the  saints," 


THE   MONGOLS  339 

of  heterogeneous  elements.  Nichiren  knew  of  the  Shat- 
paramita  Sutra/  referred  to  in  a  former  chapter,  which  was 
produced  by  the  collaboration  of  the  Nestorian  priest  Adam 
with  the  Indian  Buddhist  Prajna,  and  he  rejected  it  with 
scom.^  Two  centuries  later,  when  St.  Francis  Xavier 
landed  in  Kyushu  and  desired  to  preach  the  Faith  of 
Christ,  he  received  from  the  local  Daimyo  a  written  permit 
authorizing  him  to  preach  the  doctrines  of  Buddha.^  It 
did  not  at  first  occur  to  the  average  Japanese  mind  that  the 
Faith  which  the  Jesuit  Fathers  had  come  to  preach  was 
anything  more  than  a  new  variety  of  the  multiplex 
Mahayana. 

Kublai  was  the  first  of  the  Mongol  rulers  who  formally 
adopted  Buddhism  as  his  own  personal  rehgion.  It  is  to 
him  that  the  world  owes  that  peculiar  institution,  the 
Dalai  Lama,  the  Supreme  Pope  of  the  Thibetan  and  Mon- 
golian Buddhists.  The  first  Dalai  Lama  was  appointed  in 
1261,  not  long  after  the  visit  of  the  Franciscan  ambassadors 
from  the  Court  of  Rome.  Imitation  is  very  often  the 
sincerest  form  of  flattery.  But  the  Dalai  Lama  and  the 
Lamaist  form  of  Buddhism  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
Japanese  Mahayana.  We  may  therefore  content  our- 
selves with  the  bare  mention  of  the  fact  of  the  institution. 
Kennyo  Shonin,  one  of  Shinran's  successors  in  the  fifteenth 

»  See  above,  Chapter  XII.  p.  128. 

*  "  Seigoroku,"  p.  681.  He  says  that  the  Sutra  was  brought  from 
India  by  Amoghavajra  towards  the  end  of  the  Tang  dynasty,  that  it 
was  unknown  in  China  until  then,  that  none  of  the  teachers  in  the 
period  of  the  "  three  Southern  and  seven  Northerni  States  "  knew  any- 
thing about  it,  and  that  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  Hokekyo. 

'  Murdoch  and  Yamagata,  "  History  of  Japan,"  p.  67.  The  licence 
runs  as  follows :  "  This  deed  witnesseth  that  I  have  given  permission 
to  the  priests  {s5,  a  Buddhist  term)  who  have  come  to  this  country 
from  the  Western  regions,  in  accordance  with  their  request  and  desire, 
that  they  may  found  and  erect  a  monastery  and  house,  in  order  to 
develop  the  Law  of  Buddha." 


340    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

century,  is  credited  with  having  harboured  designs  of 
establishing  something  very  much  Uke  it  in  Japan  ^  for  his 
own  benefit. 

It  is  of  distinct  importance  for  the  student  to  keep  in 
mind  the  Buddhist  conception  of  the  three  "  millenniums," 
the  last  of  which  is  to  witness  the  decay  of  the  Faith  taught 
by  S'akyamuni.  There  is  a  tendency  to  shirk  the  obvious 
conclusions  of  the  doctrine  as  at  first  enunciated,  by  ex- 
panding the  third  millennium  to  a  period  of  two  or  even 
ten  thousand  years.  It  is  a  tendency  caused  by  fear. 
Buddhists  not  unnaturally  dread  the  coming  of  the  time 
when  their  faith  shall  disappear.  There  is  another  way  of 
looking  at  the  question.  If  it  should  disappear  it  will  do 
so  only  to  make  room  for  something  better,  and  that 
"  something  better  "  is  what  the  whole  world  is  prepared  to 
welcome.  I  shall  refer  to  it  again  in  my  concluding 
chapter.^ 

'  Murdoch  and  Yamagata,  •'  History  of  Japan,"  p.  22. 

'  It  is  well  to  observe  the  way  in  which  persons  and  nations, 
dwelling  in  remote  parts  of  the  world,  and  apparently  without  any 
dealings  with  one  another,  become,  as  it  were,  simultaneously  obsessed 
by  the  same  ideas.  We  may  find  illustrations  of  this  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Greek  and  Indian  philosophies,  in  the  reforms  of  S'akyamuni 
as  contemporaneous  with  those  of  the  post-exilic  prophets  and  law- 
givers, in  the  simultaneous  realization  both  in  East  and  West  of  the 
need  of  a  personal  Saviour  who  shall  be  of  kingly  race  and  born  out  of 
the  common  way  of  men.  Simultaneously,  both  in  East  and  West  is 
proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  Salvation  by  Faith,  of  the  approaching  end 
of  the  age,  of  the  need  of  using  the  temporal  sword  for  the  suppression 
of  heresy.  We  cannot  always  trace  an  actual  contact ;  it  is  perhaps 
enough  to  recognize  the  fact  that  these  thoughts  were  in  the  air. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

The  Buddhism  of  the  MuromachiAge 

The  Hojo  Regents  fell  in  the  year  1333. .  Their  fall  was 
due  to  many  causes,  and  had  been  in  preparation  for  some 
time.  The  immediate  and  ultimate  cause  was  the  con- 
junction of  a  real,  substantial  grievance,  which  alienated 
the  sympathies  of  the  people,  with  the  fact  that  the 
Imperial  throne  was  at  the  time  occupied  by  an  Emperor 
of  exceptional  ability — the  ill-starred  Go-daigo  (  = 
Daigo  II.). 

The  grievance  was  caused  by  the  rapacity  of  Nagasaki 
Takasuke,  the  Minister  of  Hojo  Takatoki,  the  last  of  the 
Kamakura  Eegents.  Takatoki  was  a  very  different  per- 
sonage from  the  Saimyoji  who  resigned  his  high  ofl&ce  in 
order  to  study  the  wants  of  his  people,  or  the  Tokimune 
who  organized  the  forces  which  beat  off  the  Mongols.  He 
was  a  weak,  vain  man,  engrossed  in  intrigues  against 
Shoguns,  Barons,  and  Prelates,  who  found  no  time  to 
attend  to  the  details  of  administration.  He  left  all  such 
disagreeable  matters  to  Nagasaki  Tadasuke,  and  the 
minister  made  a  profit  of  the  free  hand  which  his  master 
gave  him,  by  selling  rice  to  the  people  during  a  period  of 
famine  at  very  high  prices.  What  made  this  enormity 
more  enormous  was  that  the  rice  had  been  stored  by  the 
earHer  Regents  for  the  purposes  of  free  distribution  in  time 
of  need. 

The    consequent   unpopularity  of    the  Regent   gave 


342    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Godaigo  an  opportunity  for  restoring  the  Imperial  House 
to  its  rightful  position  in  the  country.  The  design  was  not 
accomphshed  at  one  blow  ;  but  Go-daigo  had  staunch 
supporters  in  Kusunoki  Masashige,  Nitta  Yoshisada, 
Aphikaga  Takauji,  and  other  loyalist  knights  and  barons, 
and  witX  their  help  Kamakura  was  destroyed,  and  the 
Hojo  Kegency  overthrown.  It  had  been  an  unconstitu- 
tional usurpation  from  the  very  beginning,  but  it  had  done 
good  service  to  the  country  in  the  earlier  years  of  its 
existence. 

Unfortunately,  however,  Go-daigo  speedily  offended  his 
chief  supporters  by  the  grants  of  land  and  fiefs,  which  he 
made  to  unworthy  parasites  and  favourites,  instead  of  to 
the  warriors  whose  arms  had  placed  the  reins  of  adminis- 
trative power  in  his  hands.  The  men  who  had,  as  it 
were,  made  the  Emperor,  felt,  perhaps,  that  they  could  also 
unmake  him,  and  Ashikaga  Takauji,  seeing  an  oppor- 
tunity for  turning  the  discontent  against  the  Emperor  to 
his  own  advantage,  raised  the  standard  of  revolt,  and  pro- 
claimed himself  Shogun  in  the  place  of  Moriyoshi,  the 
newly  appointed  Shogun  of  the  Imperial  Blood,^  whose 
scandalously  luxurious  Ufe  had  speedily  shown  him  to  be 
unfit  for  his  office. 

The  Civil  War  which  was  thus  commenced  was  a 
terrible  one  for  Japan.  It  led  to  the  setting  up  of  a  Bival 
Dynasty,  intended  to  supplant  the  House  of  Go-daigo, 

'  The  pre-Tokugawa  Shoguns  may  be  distributed  as  follows :  (1) 
Three  at  the  Minamoto  family — Yoritimo  (1192),  Yoriie  (1202),  Sanetomo 
(1203);  then  (2)  two  Pujiwaras— Yoritsune  (1226),  Yoritsugu  (1244); 
then  (3)  seven  Shoguns  of  the  Imperial  Blood — Munetaka  (1252), 
Koreyasu  (1266),  Hisa-akira  (1289),  Morikuni  (1308),  Morinaga  (1333), 
Narinaga  (1334),  and  Moriyoshi  (1338).  These  all  resided  at  Kamakura, 
with  Regents  of  the  Hoj5  family  to  look  after  them.  Then  came 
(4)  fifteen  Ashikaga  Shoguns  (1338-1573),  residing  at  Kyoto.  They  were 
for  the  most  part  quite  as  insignificant  as  their  Kamakura  predecessors. 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  MUROMACHI  AGE     343 

which  was  declared  to  have  forfeited  the  throne.  For  a 
period  of  sixty  years  there  were  two  jival  Emperors  in 
Japan — the  Southern  Line,  that  of  Go-daigo,  which  was 
clearly  the  legitimate  one,  holding  its  own  in  Kyushu  and 
the  South;  while  the  Northern  hne,  which  was  the  usurping 
one,  was  recognized  throughout  the  North.  The  strife 
ended  in  a  compromise,  which  was,  however,  clearly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  usurping  North,  for  it  was  Go-Komatsu, 
of  the  Northern  line,  who  re-united  the  two  dynasties  on 
the  abdication  of  Go-Kameyama  of  the  South,  and  after 
the  death  of  his  son  Shoko,  the  inheritance  passed,  with 
Go-Hanazono,  Go-Tsuchimikado,  etc.,  to  the  descendants 
of  Suko,  the  third  Emperor  of  the  Northern  hne.  Go- 
Komatsu  reigned  from  1392-1412  ;  but  his  power  was  only 
what  the  Shogun  Yoshimochi  permitted  him  to  have. 

Let  us  follow  the  history  of  the  country  closely  for  a  few 
years  longer. 

The  Emperor  Shoko  (1413-1428)  was  raised  to  the 
throne  by  Yoshimochi  on  the  abdication  of  his  father 
Go-Komatsu.  By  this  act  Yoshimochi  deUberately  broke 
his  faith  ;  for  the  understanding  between  the  two  dynasties 
had  been  that  the  Emperors  should  be  chosen  alternately 
from  the  North  and  the  South,  and  it  was  now  the  turn  of 
the  South.  The  appointment  was  not  made  without 
opposition,  and  many  of  the  supporters  of  the  Southern 
Dynasty  rose  in  rebellion  at  the  breach  of  faith ;  but  tha 
South  had  allowed  the  Sacred  Treasures  ^to-^pass  into  the 
keeping  of  the  North,  and  so  long  as  the  North  held  them 
theylfelt'tEeins elves  to  be  safe.    Amongst  the  supporters 

'  The  Sacred  Treasures  are  the  Sword,  the  Mirror,  and  the  Maga- 
tama,  the  possession  of  which  constitutes  in  Japan  the  right  to  the 
Imperial  Crown.  Even  to-day  the  Japanese  are  extremely  touchy  on 
the  subject  of  the  Rival  Dynasties  and  the  consequent  displacements 
in  the  line  of  Imperial  Succession. 


344    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

of  the  North  there  were  also  dissensions,  for  the  Ashikaga 
Shoguns  had  ofl&cesof  power  and  emolument  to  bestow  upon 
their  followers,  and  there  were  many  rivalries  and  jealousies 
among  the  great  famiUes  who  desired  to  increase  their 
territories  and  wealth.  Yoshimochi  was  not  such  a  great 
man  as  his  father  Yoshimitsu,  who  had  reduced  the  country 
in  favour  of  Go-Komatsu,  had  built  the  beautiful  Kinkakuji 
at  Kyoto,  and  treated  with  the  Mings,  the  Chinese  suc- 
cessors of  the  Mongols ;  but  he  had  inherited  a  large 
amount  of  authority  and  influence,  which  he  used  without 
scruple.  In  1418  he  slew  his  own  brother,  whom  he  sus- 
pected of  aiming  at  the  Shogunate.  In  1423  he  became  a 
monk,  but  continued  to  be  the  power  behind  the  throne 
until  his  death  five  years  later. 

Shoko's  successor,  Go-Hanazono  (1429-1465)  had  a  long 
reign  of  thirty-six  years  entirely  filled  with  civil  wars. 
The  great  families  of  Hosokawa,  Hatakeyama,  Yamana, 
Shiba,  etc.,  were  engaged  in  a  constant  scramble  for 
territories,  power,  and  wealth.  The  Shogun  Yoshimasa, 
who  lived  in  luxury  in  his  palace  at  Muromachi,  added  fuel 
to  the  fire  by  a  high-handed  act  which  produced  a  schism 
in  his  own  family.  He  had  been  for  a  long  time  childless, 
and,  an  heir  being  imperatively  necessary,  had  adopted 
his  own  younger  brother  Gijin,  whom  he  took  from  a 
monastery  for  the  purpose.  The  next  year,  however,  a  son 
was  bom  to  him,  and  he  then  proposed  to  disinherit  Gijin 
and  send  him  back  to  the  monastery.  But  Gijin,  having 
tasted  the  sweets  of  secular  hfe,  refused  to  go,  and  the 
distracted  state  of  the  country  made  an  appeal  to  arms 
seem  an  obvious  remedy.  The  Civil  War  which  followed 
is  known  in  Japanese  history  as  the  Onin  no  tairan.  It 
lasted  for  over  ten  years  (1467-1477) ;  then,  after  a  short 
interval,  broke  out  afresh  at  the  death  of  Yoshimasa,  after 
which   it   raged   for  an  unbroken   century.    When  the 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  MUROMACHI  AGE     345 

Emperor  Go-Hanazono's  son,  Go-Tsuchimikado,  died  in 
A.D.  1500,  his  corpse  remained  unburied  for  forty  days, 
because  there  was  not,  in  the  Imperial  Palace,  the  money 
with  which  to  bury  him.  Such  was  the  poverty  to  which 
the  Imperial  House  was  reduced. 

Go-Kashiwabara  reigned  from  1501  to  1527.  The 
fighting  was  still  going  on,  but  afew  of  the  more  enterprising 
daimyos,  the  Mori,  the  Shimazu,  the  Otomo,  the  Hojo  of 
Odawara,  and  others,  were  organizing  their  territories  into 
semi-independent  states,  and  a  few  well-administered 
daimyates  here  and  there  stood  out  hke  oases  in  the 
wilderness  of  confusion  and  distress.  In  the  succeeding 
reign,  that  of  Go-Nara  (1527-1558),  the  same  kind  of  thing 
went  on.  Some  of  the  great  famiUes,  the  Ouchi  and  the 
Hosokawa,  etc.,  disappeared ;  whilst  others,  such  as  the 
Mori  and  the  Hojo,  increased  in  power  and  wealth.  When 
the  Emperor  Go-Nara  died,  neither  he  nor  the  Ashikaga 
Shogun  had  any  actual  power.  But  Nobunaga  was 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  Hideyoshi  twenty-one,  and 
lyeyasu  fifteen,  and  there  was  the  first  dawn  of  the  Hope 
of  Peace  and  Order.  St.  Francis  .Xavier  and  his  band  of 
Jesuits  were  in  the  country,  and  Christianity  was  being 
openly  preached. 

And  what,  we  may  ask,  did  Japanese  Buddhism  do, 
during  this  period  of  terrible  misery,  to  alleviate  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  people  and  to  bring  about  a  better  state  of 
affairs  ? 

It  would  seem  as  though  its  record  throughout  the 
thousand  years  of  its  existence  in  Japan  had  been  nothing 
but  a  dismal  chronicle  of  broken  promises.  How  often 
have  we  not  read,  in  the  pages  of  this  history,  of  distin- 
guished and  saint-Uke  men,  Shotoku,  Kobo,  Dengyo, 
Honen,  Shinran,  Nichiren,  and  the  fathers  of  the  Zen  sects, 
who,  moved  by  the  aflflictions  of  their  times,  set  their  hands 


346         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

to  the  work  of  religious  reformation,  and  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  propagation  of  doctrines  theological  and 
practical,  which  gave  hopes  of  something  better  at  hand  ! 
Alas,  that  in  every  case  these  hopes  were  shattered,  and 
that,  in  every  case,  the  disciples  of  the  reformers  exhibited  in 
their  Uves  those  very  vices  which  the  reformers  had  sought 
to  eradicate.  When  the  saddest  hour  of  Japan  came, 
the  Buddhist  sects  were  not  only  powerless  to  help  their 
countrymen,  but  they  had  actually  become  actiyfi_aiders 
and  abettors  of  the  very  evils  of  those  distressful  times. 

The  Tendai  monks  of  Hieizan  and  Mi-idera  had  been 
old  offenders  in  the  practice  of  turning  their  monasteries 
into  barracks  and  making  religion  the  bondservant  of 
pohtical  intrigue  and  oppression.  The  other  sects  followed 
suit.  The  disciples  of  Kobo  had  turned  the  monastery  of 
Koya  San  into  a  military  encampment.  They  had  become 
divided  into  two  sects,  the  leader  of  the  schism  (the  Shingi- 
ha  of  Shingon,  as  it  was  called),  had  founded  a  rival  temple 
at  Negoro,  in  the  province  of  Kii,  and  this  daughter  temple, 
which  could  raise  an  army  of  3000  fighting  monks,  waged 
wars  on  its  own  account,  and  ended  by  being  besieged, 
taken  by  assault,  and  razed  to  the  ground  by  Hideyoshi  in 
1585.  The  JodojrShinshu  were  the  ruling  power  in  Echigo, 
Kaga,  and  other  provinces,  where  they  dwelt  just  as  the 
Prince-Bishops  of  Germany,  ruling  their  States  as  tem- 
poral barons  or  lords.  These  Hongwanji  armies  had  more 
than  one  pitched  battle  with  their  brethren  of  Hieizan, 
and  the  Monto  power  counted  for  very  much  in  the  civil 
quarrels  of  the  time.  The  older  Jodo,  the  followers  of 
Honen,  were  quieter  in  their  demeanour,  but  there  were 
times  when  even  they  took  to  the  sword  to  maintain  their 
opinions  ;  ^  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  quieter  Zen  sects, 

•  A  tale  which  redounds  to  their  honour  is  told  of  this  sect.      They 
were  engaged  in  a  controversy  on  some  theological  point  with  the 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  MUROMACHI  AGE    347 

who  stood  very  high  in  the  favour  of  the  Ashikaga 
Shoguns. 

The  Nichirenists  speedily  became  the  greatest  offenders 
of  all.  They  quarrelled  amongst  themselves,  the  sectarian 
differences  between  the  various  sub-sects  or  schisms  of 
Nichirenism  being  clearly  and  antagonistically  marked. 
They  quarrelled  with  Monto  and  Jodo ;  with  the  Tendai 
they  had  a  formal  private  war  of  their  own,  which  history- 
designates  as  Tevibun  Horan  (1532),  the  "  Eehgious  War  of 
the  Tembun  period."  ^  They  quarrelled  with  the  authori- 
ties. They  enunciated  a  principle  known  as  Fuju  fuze, 
"  not  giving  and  not  receiving,"  which  may  be  translated 
as  "  intransigeanV  The  term  was  adopted  as  a  denomina- 
tional designation  by  one  of  the  many  Nichirenist  sub- 
sects,  and  the  extremist  Fuju-fuze  sub-sect  of  Nichirenism 
was  proscribed  by  the  Tokugawa  Shoguns  at  the  same  time 
as  Christianity.  All  manner  of  disreputable  characters 
joined  the  ranks  of  the  Buddhist  clergy  to  escape  from 
offended  Justice  (what  little  there  was  of  her  in  those  sad 
times)  ;  ^  wandering  Ko-muso  spread  the  doctrines  of  the 

Nichirenists,  and  both  sides  appealed  to  Nobunaga,  who  appointed  a  day 
to  hear  their  disputations.  The  night  before  the  disputation  he  sent  for 
the  Jodoist  leaders.  "  If  the  decision  should  be  given  in  your  favour, 
what  punishment  do  you  think  should  be  given  to  your  adversaries  ?  " 
"  None  at  aU,"  they  replied ;  "  we  only  want  to  have  a  clear  statement 
of  the  Truth."  Nobunaga  then  turned  to  the  Nichirenists.  "  We,"  they 
said,  not  knowing  what  the  Jodoists  had  answered, "  should  demand  the 
death  of  our  obstinate  opponents."  The  verdict  was  given  in  favour  of 
the  Jddoists ;  the  full  penalty  was  exacted  from  the  defeated  Nichirenists. 

'  An  indication  of  the  miseries  of  the  time  may  be  found  in  the  list  of 
Nengo  or  year  periods.  It  was  always  customary  that  these  periods 
must  be  changed  whenever  any  great  calamity  occurred.  During  the 
whole  of  the  Muromachi  period  they  were  changed  on  an  average  every 
three  years. 

-  The  miseries  of  this  time  have  been  set  forth  far  more  forcibly 
than  I  can  do  it  in  the  Introduction  to  Murdoch  and  Yamagata's 
"  History  of  Japan,"  which  I  strongly  recommend  to  the  student.  It 
was  published  at  Kobe  in  1903. 


348    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

Hokekyo,  whilst  they  brought  rehgion  into  disrepute  ;  and 
one  of  the  favourite  themes  for  dramatic  performances 
was  skits  on  the  gross  immorahties  of  the  Buddhist 
clergy.^ 

A  few  bright  names,  to  be  sure,  adorned  the  period. 
Such  was,  for  instance,  that  of  Eennyo  Shonin  (1415-1499), 
the  poet,  preacher,  and  rehgious  writer,  eighth  Patriarch  of 
the  Shinshu,  who  was  driven  from  the  capital  by  the 
Hieizan  monks,  jealously  incensed  at  the  influence  which 
he  had  gained  by  his  sanctity.  Shortly  afterwards,  he 
was  able  to  return  to  Kyoto  as  Patriarch  of  his  sect,  but 
again,  and  in  spite  of  Imperial  protection,  the  Hieizan 
monks  attacked  him,  burned  the  Hongw^nji,  and  drove 
him  into  exile.  He  now  went  into  the  provinces  of  Echizen, 
Kaga,and  Noto,  preaching,  building  temples,  and  exhorting 
to  a  better  hfe,  with  such  vigour  and  success  that  his  own 
Shinshu  clergy  rebelled  and  set  fire  to  the  monastery  in 
which  he  was  Uving.  In  spite  of  all  his  efforts,  a  civil  war 
amongst  his  own  people  ensued.  It  is  known  as  Ikhoto  no 
ran,  "  the  civil  war  in  the  Ikko  sect,"  and  filled  all  the 
earlier  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  until  Nobunaga  arose 
to  put  it  down  with  a  strong  hand.  It  is  from  Renuyo 
Shonin's  time,  and  from  the  schism  which  these  family 
squabbles  engendered,  that  we  get  the  division  of  the 
disciples  of  Shinran  into  the  two  Hongwanji  of  the^ast 
and  of  the  West,  which  still  remains"!  ^*"*"~~~^ 

When  Catholic  Christianity  reached  Japan,  Buddhism 
was  morally  and  spiritually  bankrupt.^    With  few  excep- 

^  See  K.  Florenz,  "  Geschicbte  der  Japanischen  Literatux,"  and  my 
notes  on  the  Japanese  Drama  in  Transactions  of  Ass.  Society  of  Japan, 
vol.  XXXV.  pt.  2. 

*  Yet  in  spite  of  what  I  have  said  here,  with  justifiable  reason,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  there  have  always  been  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Buddhist  clergy  a  certain  number  of  devout  and  pious  men 
whose  lives  and  precepts  have  served  to  keep  religion  alive  and  in 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  MUROMACHI  AGE     349 

tions,  all  the  elements  that  worked  for  good  came  from  the 
purer  forms  of  Confucianism,  which  were  gaining  ground 
everywhere,  and  from  the  improved  moral  discipline  which 
some  of  the  better  daimyos  were  introducing  amongst  their 
followers.  In  the  popular  imagination,  Buddhism  was 
associated  with  magnificent  services  in  magnificently 
decorated  temples,  performed  by  men  who  were  extremely 
punctilious  on  points  of  ecclesiastical  order,  but  who 
enjoyed  a  bad  reputation  for  worldHness,  hypocrisy,  and 
avarice.  The  fighting  man,  who  monopolized  education 
outside  of  the  clerical  ranks,  had  seen  enough  of  these 
things.  He  had  no  desire  to  make  even  the  acquaintance 
of  any  other  system  which  might  seem  to  reproduce  the 
blemishes  which  he  so  vigorously  blamed  and  so  heartily 
despised.  He  was  much  strengthened  in  his  opinions  by 
the  philosophy  of  Shushi,  the  Confucianist  reformer  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  whose  teachings  had  recently  been  introduced 
into  Japan,  where  they  had  met  with  a  very  hearty  wel- 
come amongst  thoughtful  people.  The  Zen  priests, 
especially,  had  been  much  drawn  towards  these  views, 
which  very  largely  coincided  with  their  own. 

popular  estimation.  But  these  have  mostly  been  the  incumbents  of 
rustic  temples  whose  lives  have  been  spent  far  from  the  pressure  of  con- 
temporary life. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

The  Period  of  the  Catholic  Missions 

Had  St.  Francis  Xavier  and  his  associates  been  acquainted 
with  Nichiren's  apocalyptic  interpretation  of  the  Hokekyo, 
it  is  possible  that  they  might  have  been  tempted  to  apply 
to  themselves  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  and  to 
claim  that  they  and  theirs  constituted  the  multitude 
headed  by  the  four  great  Bodhisattvas  who  should  appear 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  Buddhist  Millennium,  for  the 
purposes  of  preaching  salvation  to  a  world  that  was 
forgetting  the  Law. 

The  Buddhism  of  Japan,  in  the  course  of  its  long 
development  since  the  time  when  the  Chinese  Emperor 
Ming-ti  had  had  his  epoch-making  dream,  had  on  more 
than  one  occasion  rubbed  shoulders  with  Christianity. 
But  it  had  either  been  the  Christianity  of  the  Nearer 
Orient,  the  vague  syncretism  of  Gnostics  and  Manichseans ; 
or  the  dull  apathy  of  the  Nestorians,  deprived  of  vigour 
in  consequence  of  their  estrangement  from  the  main 
body  of  their  co-religionists.  When  the  Franciscans 
reached  Pekin  in  a.d.  1300,  and  when,  in  1549,  the  Jesuits 
landed  at  Kagoshima,  the  Mahayana  of  the  Far  East 
found  itself  confronted  for  the  first  time  with  the  militant 
Christianity  of  Europe,  which  had  gone  half  round  the 
globe  to  challenge  it  to  mortal  combat. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  write  even  a  sketch  of  the 
history  of  the  Catholic  Missions  of  the  sixteenth  century. 


PERIOD  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     351 

Others  ^  have  done  this  at  considerable  length  and  with 
carefuUy  weighed  judgment.  My  task  is  somewhat 
different.  It  is  to  trace  the  movements,  if  any,  that  were 
going  on  in  Buddhism  during  this  period,  and  the  effects, 
if  any,  that  the  Jesuit  Missions  had  on  the  native  faiths 
of  Japan.  In  doing  this,  I  shall  be  obUged  frequently  to 
mention  the  Christian  propaganda,  though  without 
intending  to  make  it  the  main  purpose  of  this  chapter. 

Here  let  me  say,  by  way  of  introduction,  that  none  of 
the  Histories,  not  even  that  of  Murdoch,  who  is  no  great 
friend  of  the  Jesuits,  can  estabhsh  anything  against  the 
personal  uprightness  or  probity  of  the  Jesuits,  who  had 
the  Hon's  share  of  the  Christian  evangehzation  of  that 
time,  and  who  have  had  to  bear  more  than  their  proper 
share  of  the  hatred  and  ill-will  which  has,  ever  since  the 
seventeenth  century,  clung  to  the  Catholic  name  in 
Japan.  That  they  made  mistakes  is  quite  evident ;  but 
the  best  of  men  may  do  ffiat.  They  came  to  the  Far 
East  without  having  shaken  off  the  traditions  and  atmo- 
sphere of  the  Far  West.  They  brought  Avith  them  what  I 
may  call  the  "  Walls-of- Jericho  "  theory  of  Christian 
Missions — the  theory  that  they  had  only  to  blow  the 
Gospel  Trumpet  long  and  loud,  and  lo  !  the  walls  erected 
by  inveterate  error  and  falsity  would  fall  down  in  a 
moment,  and  leave  the  way  open  for  the  hosts  of  Light 
to  make  a  triumphant  entrance  into  the  beleaguered  city. 
They  were,  consequently,  in  a  very  great  hurry  with  their 

*  For  detailed  infonnation  on  this  period,  the  student  is  referred  to 
papers  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  by  Sir 
Ernest  Satow,  Mr.  Gubbins,  the  late  Rev.  J.  Summers,  and  others. 
Ako  to  the  more  recent  histories,  e.g. "  Die  Entwickelung  des  Christen- 
tums  in  Japan,"  by  Dr.  Haas,  the  •'  Christian  Daimyos,"  by  Father 
Steichen,  and  Murdoch  and  Yamagata's  "  History  of  Japan."  Papinot's 
"  Dictionnaire  d'Histoire  et  de  G6ographie  du  Japon  "  gives  very  useful 
information. 


352    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

earlier,  if  not  with  their  later,  Baptisms,  and  speedily 
found  their  strategic  operations  hampered  by  a  mixed 
multitude  of  half-converted  disciples,  who  were  a  weakness 
rather  than  a  strength  to  their  cause.  Again,  they 
brought  with  them  the  traditions  and  atmosphere  of 
Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  there  was  not  much 
there  to  commend  itself  to  the  statesmen  of  a  country 
Uke  Japan,  who  were  earnestly  seeking  for  ways  and 
means  of  bringing  peace  to  their  distracted  country.^ 
Neither  were  they  fortunate  in  the  companions  they 
brought  with  them,  for  all  Europe  in  those  days  looked 
upon  slavery  as  an  institution  not  contrary  to  the  law  of 
Christ,  and  the  Portuguese  merchants,  besides  selling  arms 
to  restless  daimyos  whose  activities  were  hindering  the 
pacijS cation  of  the  country,  did  a  very  considerable  trade 
in  Japanese  slaves.'^  The  Jesuits  do  not  seem  to  have  had 
anything  to  do  with  this  trade  themselves,  but  their 
reputation  had  to  suffer  for  the  ill  deeds  of  their  associates. 
In  their  mission  work  they  neglected  to  hallow  the  Japanese 
language  by  consecrating  it  to  the  uses  of  Christian 
worship,^  and  they  made  the  fatal  mistake  of  allowing 
their  young  converts  to  ridicule  and  denounce  the  Buddhist 
clergy,  and  to  urge  the  people  to  destroy  temples  and 

*  We  read  of  the  Jesuits  sending  some  of  their  converts  to  Europe 
to  show  them  the  glories  of  the  Catholic  countries.  But  it  was  a 
dangerous  remedy.  One  man,  at  least,  went  as  a  spy,  got  himself 
ordained,  and  then,  ^returning  to  Japan,  threw  off  the  mask,  and 
became  one  of  the  most  determined  enemies  of  the  Jesuits.  And 
lyeyasu  sent  a  special  envoy  of  his  own,  a  man  named  Nishi  S5in 
(Murdoch,  p.  495). 

*  Murdoch,  pp.  241,  242.  See  also  what  he  says  of  the  slur  cast, 
through  slave  dealing,  on  the  charitable  institutions  of  the  Jesuits, 
p.  76. 

*  Thus,  the  Christian  converts  from  Buddhism  went  from  the  use 
of  one  unknown  tongue  to  another.  See  what  I  say  below  about  Ingen 
and  the  Obaku  sect. 


PERIOD  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     353 

shrines.*  It  is  true  that  Nobunaga  and  others  did  the 
same,  but  things  which  a  native  may  do  with  impunity 
wear  a  very  different  aspect  when  done  under  the 
inspiration  of  a  foreigner. 

The  national  rivalries  between  European  nations  had 
also  much  to  do  with  the  ultimate  ill  success  of  the  CathoUc 
Missions.  It  is  quite  certain  that  the  EngUsh  and  Dutch, 
though  not  very  friendly  towards  each  other,  were  united 
in  their  enmity  against  the  Jesuits.  But  the  CathoHcs 
themselves  were  disunited,  and  the  Franciscans  and 
Dominicans,  coming  under  Spanish  auspices,  did  much  to 
thwsrf  the  Jesuits,  who  represented  the  Portuguese  mono- 
poly of  trade  and  missionary  effort.^ 


>  Murdoch,  p.  241,  etc.  Had  the  Jesuits,  instead  of  constantly  aiming 
at  the  conversion  of  the  great  men,  and  of  then  urging  them  to  extirpate 
•'  heresy  "  and  paganism  within  their  dominions,  been  content  to  work 
quietly  as  a  leaven  amongst  the  mass  of  the  people,  their  work  might 
have  been  far  more  lasting.  The  wonderful  tenacity  of  the  humble 
folk  of  Urakami  and  Amakusa,  who  remained  faithful  through  more 
than  two  centuries  of  relentless  persecution,  shows  how  strong  they 
were  in  this  kind  of  work. 

*  The  following  extract  from  Murdoch  (p.  282)  shows  that  the 
charges  of  political  aggrandizement  schemes  ought  to  be  laid  at  the 
door  of  the  Shogunate  rather  than  at  that  of  the  Spaniards : — 

"  Among  the  converts  made  by  the  Jesuits  was  a  certain  Harada, 
who  later  on  had  found  his  way  to  the  Philippines  as  a  trader,  and  had 
taken  full  note  of  the  weakness  of  the  Spaniards  in  their  new 
possessions.  In  that  weakness  he  saw  his  own  account,  and  he  made 
haste  to  return  to  Japan,  where  he  struck  up  an  acquaintance  with 
one  Hasegawa,  a  courtier  of  Hideyoshi.  Through  Hasegawa,,  Harada 
represented  to  the  Regent  how  easy  it  would  be  for  him  to  take 
possession  of  the  Philippines.  Hideyoshi  .  .  .  listened  to  Hasegawa's 
exposition  of  Harada's  notions  readily  enough,  and  in  1591  he  penned 
a  very  haughty  letter  to  the  Governor  of  the  Philippines,  calling  upon 
His  Excellency  to  recognize  him  (Hideyoshi)  as  his  suzerain."  Hence, 
for  the  Shogunate  to  make  capital  out  of  the  missionaries,  by  accusing 
them  of  conspiring  against  the  political  liberties  of  Japan,  was,  to  say 
the  very  least,  for  the  pot  to  call  the  kettle  black. 

2  A 


354         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

The  Jesuits  first  landed  in  Kyushu,  their  labours  in 
that  island  forming  as  it  were  the  first  chapter  of  their 
activities  in  Japan.  Kyushu  was  at  the  time  divided 
into  several  small  principalities,  practically  independent 
kingdoms,  which  scarcely  recognized  the  authority  of 
Kyoto  at  all,  and  which  were  busily  engaged  in  contests 
for  supremacy  within  that  island.  Here,  at  first,  the 
new-comers  were  eajgerly  welcomed,  for  wherever  the 
priests  went  the  merchants  followed,  with  the  guns  and 
implements  of  war  so  dear  to  a  warlike  people,  and  the 
missionaries  had  their  choice  of  many  daimyates  for  their 
evangehzation.  Even  the  Buddhist  bonzes  spoke  well 
of  them,  and  received  them  kindly ;  f  or  Christianity  seemed 
to  them  to  be  but  one  more  sect  of  the  Buddhist  faith, 
and,  indeed,  it  was  so  described  by  Ouchi  Yoshitaka,  lord 
of  Suwo,  when  Xavier  crossed  over  the  Straits  of  Shimono- 
seki  into  the  territories  of  Yamaguchi.  But  it  was  soon 
found  that  the  new  religion  was  not  in  the  least  disposed 
to  accept  so  humiliating  a  classification.  The  Jesuits 
were  as  intolerant  of  other  creeds  as  were  the  Nichirenists 
themselves,  and  the  kind  sentiments  of  the  Buddhist 
monks  soon  changed  to  feelings  of  suspicious  hostiHty. 

But  before  these  feelings  turned  into  acts  of  serious 
opposition,  the  Jesuit  leaders  had  concluded  that  if  the 
friendship  of  local  daimyos,  such  as  Otomo  and  Ouchi,  was 
so  advantageous  to  their  cause,  very  much  more  might  be 
expected  from  the  favour  of  the  Emperor  and  Shogun. 
They  had  accordingly  made  their  way  to  Kyoto  for  the 
purpose  of  winning  the  ear  of  those  potentates,  Uttle 
knowing  that  Emperor  and  Shogun  counted  for  so  little 
in  those  days  that  the  reigning  Emperor  Oo-Nara  could  not 
have  ^een^  crowned,  as  one  of  l^is  pi;e4ecessors  could  not 
have  been  buried,  had  not  one  of  his  generous  subjects 
paid   the   expenses   of   the   coronation.    The   generous 


PERIOD  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     355 

subject  in  this  case  was  Ouchi,  the  Daimyo  of  Suwo,  and 
the  friend  of  Xavier. 

The  Jesuits  did  not  succeed  so  easily  in  gaining  a 
footing  in  the  Imperial  City,  though  it  ultimately  became 
one  of  the  chief  seats  of  their  activity.  But  their  sojourns 
in  Kyoto  brought  them  into  contact  with  Nobunaga,  and 
thus  ultimately  with  Hideyoshi,  lyeyasu,  and  lyemitsu, 
and  it  is  around  these  names  that  centres  the  rehgious  as 
well  as  the  poUtical  history  of  Japan  during  the  eventful 
century  of  the  Catholic  Missions. 

Oda  Nobunaga  (1534-1582)  was  fifteen  years  of  age 
when  he  succeeded  his  father  in  the  headship  of  a  small 
daimyate  in  Owari.  He  did  not  at  first  reahze  the 
importance  of  his  position  at  this  critical  period  of  his 
country's  history,  when  the  sujgreme  power  in  Japan  lay 
waiting  for  the  first  bold  man  to  come  and  take  it,  and 
his  youthful  escapades  gained  for  him  the  nickname  of 
Bakadono,  "  the  Fool-Lord."  He  was  recalled  to  a 
sense  of  duty  by  one  of  his  retainers,  who  wrote  and 
presented  to  his  master  a  dignified  protest  against  his 
follies,  and  then  added  point  to  his  remonstrances  by 
committing  suicide.  Nobunaga  mended  his  ways,  and, 
fortunately  for  himself,  found  amongst  his  retainers 
another  faithful  adviser — an  old  man,  Tokichird,  who  is 
considered  to  have  been  a  very  great  judge  of  human 
character. 

Acting  on  Tokichiro's  advice,  he  put  down,  in  1557, 
a  revolt  amongst  his  own  subjects  to  which  his  fooHsh 
conduct  had  given  occasion,  and  in  which  his  own  brother 
was  a  participator.  Three  years  later,  his  neighbour, 
Imagawa,  lord  of  Suruga,  Totomi,  and  Mikawa,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  of  the  great  princes,  started  for  Kyoto  with 
an  army,  intending  to  seize  the  persons  of  the  Emperor 
and  Shogun,  and  thus  to  legalize  his  own  designs  of  making 


356         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

himself  supreme  in  Japan.  Nobunaga  refused  permission 
for  Imagawa  to  pass  through  his  diminutive  territories, 
met  the  invader  at  the  village  of  Okehazama,  and  defeated 
him  utterly.  He  now  found  himself  the  master  of  four 
wealthy  and  populous  provinces,  and  universally  looked 
up  to  as  the  "  coming  man."  In  1562,  two  years  after 
his  victory  over  Imagawa,  he  received  from  the  Emperor 
Ogimachi,  the  son  of  Go-Nara,  who  had  succeeded  in 
1558  to  the  impoverished  ^  Imperial  throne,  a  secret 
commission  authorizing  him  to  take  steps  for  the  pacifica- 
tion of  the  country.  Nobunaga  accepted  the  task,  and 
set  his  hand  to  the  work,  being  assisted  therein  by  Hide- 
yoshi  and  Tokugawa  lyeyasu,^  who  had  passed  into  his 
service  as  a  consequence  of  the  defeat  of  the  Imagawas. 
By  1568  he  had  overthrown  the  Saito  family  in  Mino, 
which  he  annexed,  moving  his  own  residence  to  Gifu,  and 
had  further  spread  his  victorious  arms  into  Ise. 

But  his  progress  was  not  rapid  enough  to  satisfy  the 
Emperor,  who  saw  himself  harassed  on  all  sides.  A 
second  envoy  reached  Nobunaga,  urging  him  to  make  his 
way  to  the  capital,  and  this  message  was  enforced  by  an 
appeal  from  Ashikaga  Yoshiaki,  the  brother  of  the  last 
Shogun,  Yoshiteru,  who  had  been  assassinated  by  his 
ministers,  Miyoshi  and  Matsunaga.  The  assassins  had 
appointed  a  puppet  Shogun  of  their  own,  and  now  Yoshiaki 
appealed  to  Nobunaga  for  assistance  in  the  recovery  of 
his  rights.    Nobunaga,  who  had  in  the  meantime  strength- 

'  Ogimachi  had  to  wait  for  his  coronation  three  years,  the  expenses 
of  the  festivities  being  ultimately  defrayed  by  Mori  Motonari,  who  had 
ousted  the  Duchi  family  from  Suwd  and  Yamaguchi. 

*  The  differences  in  the  characters  of  these  three  great  men  has  been 
well  summed  up  by  the  Japanese  wit.  "  If  you  don't  sing,"  said 
Nobunaga  to  a  silent  nightingale,  "  I'll  wring  your  neck."  "  If  you 
don't  sing,"  said  Hideyoshi,  "I'll  make  you  sing."  "If  you  don't 
sing,"  said  lyeyasu,  "  I'll  wait  until  you  do." 


PERIOD  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     357 

ened  himself  by  family  alliances  with  the  Asai,  the 
Takeda,  the  Tokugawa,  and  other  powerful  famihes, 
accepted  this  double  invitation,  marched  straight  into 
the  province  of  Omi,  overthrew  the  Miyoshi  and  their 
aUies,  the  Sasaki,  or  Eokkaku,  set  Yoshiaki  on  his  Shogunal 
throne,  and  rejoiced  the  heart  of  the  Emperor  by  the 
pacification  of  the  provinces  of  Settsu,  Kawachi,  and  Omi. 

Nobunaga's  successes  entailed  an  immense  amount  of 
ill-will  from  rivals  and  competitors,  and  especially  from 
those  enemies  whom  he  had  had  the  good  fortune  to 
vanquish.  The  mutual  jealousies  of  the  great  Daimyos 
of  the  North,  Uesugi,  Takeda,  and  Hojo  of  Odawara; 
together  with  the  faithful  watch  kept  by  his  trusty 
henchman,  lyeyasu,  kept  him  secure  from  armed  attack 
from  that  quarter ;  but  it  needed  constant  vigilance  to 
control  the  provinces  he  had  already  subdued,  and  the 
Shogun  Yoshiaki,  who  had  passed  from  a  monastery  to 
a  palace,  was  of  no  practical  value  as  an  ally.  The 
Miyoshi  and  others  despised  him,  and  he  himself  bitterly 
resented  the  Hmits  which  Nobunaga  placed  upon  his 
extravagance.  At  last,  in  1570,  while  Nobunaga  was 
absent  in  Ise,  finishing  his  projects  in  that  province,  his 
enemies  revolted.  Nobunaga  returned,  blotted  out  the 
families  of  Asakura,  Asai,  Miyoshi,  and  Sasaki,  which 
now  disappear  from  history,  deposed  Yoshiaki,  abolished 
the  Ashikaga  dynasty  of  Shoguns,  and  received  from  the 
Emperor  the  high-sounding  title  of  Gon-Dainagon.  The 
suppression  of  this  rebeUion  brought  him  into  dealings 
with  the  Buddhist  monks.  About  the  same  time,  he 
came  into  personal  contact  with  the  Jesuits. 

It  was  in  1568  that  Nobunaga  had  the  eventful  inter- 
view with  the  Jesuit  Froez,  which  led  to  an  informal 
alliance  between  the  Dictator  and  the  Missionaries.  Some 
years  before  that  time,  the  criticisms  of  Father  Vilela 


358    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

had  led  the  Nichirenshii  priests  to  depose  an  abbot  for 
immoral  conduct,  and  the  tension  between  Christian  and 
Buddhist  in  Kyoto  was  considerable.  The  Nichiren  sect 
had  given  considerable  aid  to  the  Miyoshi  and  Matsunaga 
at  the  time  of  the  assassination  of  Yoshiteru,  and  Nobu- 
naga,  who  already  saw  that  the  great  worldly  monasteries 
would  be  amongst  his  bitterest  enemies  in  the  pacification 
of  the  country,  had  ordered  the  demolition  of  several 
of  the  chief  houses,  using  the  materials  thereof  for  the 
construction  of  the  new  palace  which  he  was  constructing 
for  Yoshiaki.  After  his  interview  with  Froez,  Nobunaga 
deliberately  determined  to  use  the  Catholic  missionaries 
as  one  of  his  instruments  for  crushing  the  Buddhist 
monasteries.  His  heart  remained  absolutely  untouched 
by  the  Christian  verities  ;  his  head  saw  the  advantages 
which  were  to  be  gained  from  an  alliance  with  the  Christian 
organization. 

In  1570,  Nobunaga  disgraced,  and  sentenced  to  death, 
a  Nichiren  priest,  Nichijo  Shonin,  who  had  taken  a 
prominent  position  in  the  opposition  to  his  measures. 
(It  was  this  Nichijo  who,  in  a  heated  discussion  with 
Froez  about  the  nature  of  the  human  soul,  had  wanted 
to  cut  off  the  Jesuit's  head  in  Nobunaga's  presence,  in 
order  that  the  Dictator  might  see  what  the  soul  looked 
like  as  it  escaped  from  the  human  body.)  From  that  time 
the  Buddhists  showed  unmistakable  signs  of  hostility. 
Nobunaga  gave  them  but  short  shrift.  The  Hieizan  monks 
had  sided  with  Matsunaga  and  the  Miyoshi  in  their 
rebellion  against  him.  With  a  strong  army  from  Gifu, 
Nobunaga  marched  against  the  monks,  stormed  the 
Hieizan  heights,  and  wiped  out  the  monastery.  "  The 
final  assault,"  says  Murdoch,  "  delivered  September  29th, 
1571,  ended  in  the  extermination  of  every  occupant  of  the 
three  thousand  monasteries  that  had  studded  the  faces 


PERIOD  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     359 

of  the  mountain,  and  its  thirteen  valleys,  a  few  days 
before." 

Nobunaga  next  turned  against  the  Monto  priests, 
who,  under  Kennio  Kosa,  had  established  themselves  in 
what  is  now  Osaka,  in  a  strategic  position  of  prime 
importance,  which  they  had  fortified  elaborately.  It 
took  him  several  years  to  reduce  this  priestly  fortress,  and 
it  was  not  until  1580  that  he  made  himself  master  of  it. 
"  The  slaughter,"  says  Murdoch,  "  had  been  immense, 
and  the  stench  of  burning  flesh  poisoned  the  air  for  miles 
around."  A  small  remnant  surrendered  and  were  spared, 
but  the  fortress  itself  was  burnt  to  the  ground.  Kennio, 
said  Hideyoshi,  in  his  later  years,  "  had  given  Nobunaga 
more  trouble  than  aU  his  other  enemies  combined." 

In  the  meanwhile,  a  dispute  had  taken  place  between 
the  priests  of  the  Jodo  and  their  bitter  enemies  of  the 
Nichiren  sect,  and  Nobunaga  was  invited  to  act  as  umpire, 
an  office  which  he  accepted  on  the  condition  that  the 
defeated  controversialists  should  agree  to  be  decapitated. 
The  Nichiren  champions  were  obhged  in  the  disputation 
to  own  themselves  defeated.  Nobunaga  not  only  enforced 
the  penalty  agreed  upon,  but  further  laid  on  the  whole 
sect  a  money  fine  so  heavy  that  the  Nichiren  priests  were 
unable  to  pay  it,  and  withdrew  to  remote  provinces  where 
Nobunaga's  hand  had  not  as  yet  made  itself  felt.^ 

Thus  Nobunaga  became  the  "  scourge  of  God  "  to  the 
worldly  and  carnal-minded  priests  of  the  various  sects  of 
Buddhism,  and  the  Jesuit  Fathers  felt  that  the  ground 
was  being  cleared  for  them  by  the  drastic  measures  of  the 
Dictator.  But  they  were  mistaken  in  their  estimate  of 
the  situation.    Stern  measures,  such  as  these  were,  could 

•  Nobunaga  never  came  into  collision  with  the  Shingon  priests.  It 
was  left  for  Hideyoshi  to  destroy  their  great  monastery  fortress  of 
Negoro  with  its  four  thousand  fighting  priests. 


$6o         THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

not  be  taken  without  stirring  up  bad  feeling  and  resent- 
ment, and  the  Jesuits,  whom  Nobunaga  had  befriended, 
were  the  ones  to  bear  the  resentment  of  the  Buddhists, 
whose  feelings  Nobunaga  had  so  terribly  outraged.  The 
time  came  when  they  had  to  pay  most  dearly  for  the  sins 
against  humanity  of  which  their  ally  Nobunaga  had  been 
guilty. 

For  Nobunaga  himself  it  could  not  be  pleaded  that 
he  had  intended  to  act  ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam.  Nothing 
was  further  from  his  intentions.  He  looked  upon  the 
Jesuits  merely  as  convenient  tools ;  his  own  views  of 
religion  were  sufficiently  exposed  by  the  great  temple 
(the  Sochenji)  which  he  built,  with  a  stone  image,  repre- 
senting himself,  placed  higher  than  all  the  other  idols  of 
gods  and  hotoke,  to  receive  the  adoration  of  the  people. 
A  few  months  later  (June  22,  1582)  his  trusted  general, 
Akechi  Mitsuhide,  conspired  against  him,  and  Nobunaga 
perished  miserably  by  an  assassin's  hand. 

The  successor  to  Nobunaga's  power  was  his  friend  and 
trusted  Heutenant,  Toyotomi  Eideyoshi,  the  famous 
Taikosama.  Hideyoshi  had  first  come  under  Nobunaga's 
influence  after  the  victory  at  Okehazama,  and  had  become 
allied  with  the  Dictator's  family  by  marriage.  When  the 
news  of  Nobunaga's  death  reached  him,  he  was  engaged 
in  the  Western  provinces,  reducing  the  clansmen  of  Mori 
Terumoto,  and  the  troops  with  which  Akechi  Mitsuhide 
rose  against  Nobunaga  were  troops  which  Hideyoshi  had 
asked  for  as  reinforcements  for  himself.  When  the  news 
reached  him,  he  promptly  made  peace  with  his  enemies 
and  hurried  to  the  Imperial  Capital,  where,  by  a  series 
of  triumphs,  diplomatic  as  well  as  military,  he  shortly 
succeeded  in  getting  into  his  own  hands  all  the  powers  that 
Nobunaga  had  wielded,  and  a  great  deal  more. 

Hideyoshi  did  not  wring  the  neck  of  the  poor  nightin- 


PERIOD   OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     361 

gale  as  Nobunaga  had  done,  but  he  contrived  to  make  it 
sing  to  his  tune.  In  establishing  himself  in  Nobunaga's 
place,  and  in  extending  his  authority  over  the  rest  of  the 
Empire,  he  used  the  arts  of  diplomacy  much  more  than  of 
miUtary  compulsion.  His  aim,  as  Murdoch  says,  was  "  not 
to  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone,  but  to  use  the  same 
missile  for  the  purpose  of  laming  a  considerable  number  of 
fowls,  whom  he  would  then  catch  and  train  to  lay  golden 
eggs  for  his  own  advantage."  He  did  occasionally  use 
the  sword,  and  then  with  a  cruelty  which  even  Nobunaga 
might  have  envied.  When  he  slew  his  nephew  and 
adopted  son,  Hidetsugu,  and  hacked  his  whole  family  to 
pieces,  he  showed  how  monstrously  cruel  he  was  capable 
of  being,  should  pohtical  expediency  demand  drastic 
measures.  But  he  always  stood  ready  to  temper  his 
cruelty  by  wise  diplomacy.  Thus  he  stormed  and  de- 
stroyed the  great  Shingon  Temple-Fortress  of  Negoro,  in 
Kii,  with  its  four  thousand  armed  bonzes,  but  he  spared  the 
Mother-Temple  of  Koya,  and  practically  made  the  Shignon 
priests  serve  him  in  the  capacity  of  warders  of  a  prison 
for  pohtical  offenders.  He  laid  a  very  heavy  hand  on  the 
Monto  priests,  but,  having  done  so,  he  used  Kennio  Kosa, 
who  had  contrived  to  escape  Nobunaga's  massacre  of  the 
bonzes  at  Osaka,  as  a  political  agent  of  his  own  in  the 
territories  of  the  Satsuma  Daimyo.^  When  he  thought 
that  he  had  reason  to  fear  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits  (as 
before  he  had  seen  reason  to  fear  Hidetsugu),  he  suddenly 
dropped  his  mask  of  friendship  and  ordered  the  execution 
of  the  twenty-six  victims  who  were  crucified  on  the  Martyrs' 
Mount  at  Nagasaki  on  the  5th  of  February,  1597.    Yet,  to 

*  The  Monto  priests  made  themselves  so  much  hated  in  Satsuma 
that,  until  comparatively  recent  yeajs,  they  were  not  allowed  to  enter 
the  province,  and  the  Satsuma  men  have  nearly  always  been  hostile  to 
Buddhism. 


362         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

tho  end  of  his  life,  Hideyoshi  understood  how  to  use  the 
Christians  and  their  teachers  for  his  own  purposes,  and 
Konishi's  Christian  Brigade  did  yeoman  service  for  him 
in  Korea. 

It  was  part  of  Hideyoshi's  plan  to  impoverish  those 
whom  he  had  reason  to  fear.  He  would  invite  the  power- 
ful and  wealthy  daimyos  to  come  into  residence  in  Kyoto, 
where  they  were  forced  to  spend  huge  sums  of  money  in 
costly  and  lavish  entertainments.  He  made  one  Daimyo 
bear  the  expense  of  building  a  great  castle  or  palace ; 
others  had  to  entertain  envoys  from  Korea,  China,  or  the 
Philippines,  in  a  manner  worthy  of  the  dignity  of  a  great 
Empire.  For  the  monks,  who  still  were  wealthy,  he 
prepared  a  heavy  burden  in  the  shape  of  an  immense 
Colossus — a  Daibutsu — and  many  sumptuous  temples,  in 
the  place  of  those  which  Nobunaga  had  destroyed.  The 
Daimyos  and  the  monks  had  to  bleed  their  subjects 
with  a  sharp  lancet  of  taxation  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
these  costly  undertakings,  and  the  peasants  in  these 
districts  turned  envious  eyes  towards  the  happy  inhabi- 
tants of  the  provinces  under  Hideyoshi's  direct  rule,  who 
were  free  from  the  imposts  under  which  they  themselves 
were  groaning.  There  were  two  religious  powers  that 
Hideyoshi  dreaded — the  Jesuits  and  the  intolerant 
followers  of  Nichiren.  He  placed  the  Christian  Konishi 
in  command  of  one  battalion,  composed  mainly  of  Chris- 
tians, the  Nichirenist  Kato  Kiyomasa  in  command  of 
another  battalion,  composed  mainly  of  Buddhists,  and 
sent  the  two  generals  to  Korea  to  spy  on  one  another, 
and,  possibly,  to  get  shot. 

Hideyoshi  was  no  more  a  friend  of  the  Buddhists 
than  he  was  of  the  Christians.  What  little  religion  he 
had  inclined  him  towards  the  Kami  of  the  native  Shinto. 
Shinto  makes  little  or  no  demand  on  the  moral  nature  of 


PERIOD   OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     363 

man.  It  does  not  forbid  the  taking  of  life,  nor  yet  the 
breach  of  what  we  Christians  call  the  Seventh  Command- 
ment. It  also  holds  out  to  a  distinguished  man,  such  as 
Hideyoshi  undoubtedly  was,  the  prospect — an  extremely 
gratifying  one — of  deification  after  death.  Hideyoshi 
suffered  from  megalomania.  He  dreamed  of  making 
himself  Ruler  of  All  Japan ;  he  dreamed  of  conquests  on  the 
mainland  of  Asia  ;  he  seems  in  his  dreams  to  have  seen 
himself  sitting  in  Pekin  on  the  throne  of  the  Mings.  He 
certainly  saw  himself  the  object  of  posthumous  worship, 
for  he  too,  Uke  Nobunaga,  spent  time  and  money  on  the 
erection  of  a  magnificent  temple  to  be  dedicated  to  Shin 
Hachiman,  the  new  god  of  war,  and  Shin  Hachiman  was 
his  deified  self.  The  temple  of  Shin  Hachiman  was  in 
course  of  erection  when  Hideyoshi  died.  The  apotheosis 
of  the  Taikosama  was  celebrated  in  it,  with  great  pomp, 
by  lyeyasu,  in  the  days  before  his  final  breach  with  the 
family  of  Hideyoshi.  After  the  breach  had  been  accom- 
plished, in  1615,  the  temple  was  quietly  demolished  by  the 
Governor  of  Kyoto,  and  no  one  remonstrated.  The  new 
god  was  not  much  of  a  success  in  his  new  role. 

We  now  come  to  leyasu  (1542-1616),  the  founder  of 
the  Tokugawa  line  of  Shoguns,  the  man  who  had  the 
wisdom  as  well  as  the  good  fortune  to  be  able  to  wait 
patiently  until  the  nightingale  sang  to  his  tune.  He  was 
in  a  position  to  do  so.  Nobunaga  and  Hideyoshi  had 
laboured  at  the  unification  of  the  Empire.  leyasu  had 
but  one  battle  to  fight :  after  Sekigahara,  he  was  able 
to  enter  into  the  labours  of  his  illustrious  predecessors.^ 
His  talents  were  shown  in  the  wonderful  administrative 

*  A  well-known  caricature,  reproduced  by  Father  Papinot  in  bis 
Dictionary,  represents  Nobunaga  and  Mitsuhide  pounding  the  rice, 
Hideyoshi  kneading  the  dough,  and  leyasu  sitting  apart  and  eating  the 
oake. 


364         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

machine  which  he  constructed,  and  the  minute  care  with 
which  he  provided  for  the  transmission  of  the  supreme 
power  to  his  descendants  of  remote  generations. 

We  need  not  here  speak  of  his  secular  administration 
and  reforms.  Of  his  activities  in  the  sphere  of  rehgion 
it  may  be  said  that,  whilst  disapproving  of  Christianity 
and  mistrusting,  nay  disUking,  the  foreign  missionary 
clergy,  he  never  put  a  single  one  of  them  to  death  during 
the  whole  of  his  tenure  of  ofl&ce.  It  was  reserved  for 
lemitsu,  his  grandson,  the  third  Shogun  of  the  Tokugawa 
line,  to  become  a  persecutor,  and  lemitsu  was  a  very 
different  person  from  his  grandfather. 

With  regard  to  Buddhism,  leyasu  was  in  a  position  to 
make  use  of  it  for  his  own  purposes,  and  he  did  so  with 
great  success.  Nobunaga  and  Hideyoshi  had  broken  for 
ever  the  military  power  of  the  Buddhist  monasteries. 
There  was  no  fear  of  a  new  Hieizan,  or  Negoro,  rising  out 
of  the  ruins  of  the  temples,  and  the  sects  whom  the  sword 
had  spared,  Hideyoshi  had  managed  effectually  to  im- 
poverish by  his  heavy  imposts.  leyasu  was  able  to  use 
the  broken  forces  of  the  clergy  for  his  own  purposes.  He 
encouraged  the  monks,  and  made  of  them  a  kind  of 
religious  poUce.  For  himself,  he  claimed  to  have  been 
converted  to  the  Tendai  faith,  and  his  great  mausoleum  at 
Nikko  was  entrusted  to  Tendai  hands,  as  was  also  the 
great  temple  he  erected  at  Uyeno  Park.  But  the  women 
of  his  household  seem  to  have  divided  their  attention 
between  the  Nichiren  and  Jodo,  and  the  Jodo  Temple  of 
Zojoji  was  Ukewise  of  his  founding. 

But  it  is  evident  that  his  ideas  of  Buddhism  were 
those  of  a  reformer.  The  Confucianist  school  of  Shushi, 
with  its  enlightened  views  of  statesmanship  and  statecraft, 
was  much  encouraged,  and  it  was  leyasu's  evident 
endeavour  to  graft  this  reformed  Confucianism  on  to  a 


PERIOD  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS     365 

Buddhist  stock,  in  the  hopes  of  thereby  producing  a 
better  variety  of  fruit.  Many  of  the  early  leaders  of  this 
new  Confucianism  were  Buddhist  priests,  and  this  was 
notably  the  case  with  Jigendaishi,  the  Abbot  of  the  Great 
Temple  at  Uyeno,  and  the  friend  and  counsellor  of  both 
leyasu  and  lemitsu. 

The  Zen,  whose  record  has  always  been  a  good  one, 
and  whose  tenets  made  the  adoption  of  Confucianist 
notions  comparatively  easy,  was  much  favoured  by  the 
half-philosophical,  half-rehgious  priests  whom  the  poHcy 
of  the  early  Tokugawas  did  so  much  to  encourage.  In 
1654,  a  little  while  after  the  death  of  lemitsu  (1651),  a 
celebrated  priest  was  summoned  from  China  to  become 
the  founder  of  a  new  and  enHghtened  sect  of  the  Zen. 
His  name  was  Ingen,  and  the  sect  he  founded  is  known 
as  the  Obaku,  a  small  body,  but  always  influential.  It 
shows  the  practical  character  of  the  Buddhism  which  the 
Tokugawas  tried  to  propagate  that  Ingen's  sect  adopted 
modem  Chinese  as  the  language  in  which  the  Buddhist 
Scriptures  and  services  should  be  read.  The  great  mass 
of  the  Buddhist  worship  is  in  a  dead  language,  the  Chinese 
of  fifteen  centuries  ago  ;  in  the  Obaku  worship,  the 
ordinary  Sinico- Japanese  of  the  modem  literary  style  has 
been,  as  it  were,  consecrated  to  the  purposes  of  religion. 

One  part  of  Nichiren's  contention  had  been  now 
fulfilled.  He  had  said  that  but  one  Sun  ruled  in  the 
Heavens,  but  one  Lord  in  the  reUgious  world,  but  one 
Buler  in  the  Empire.  The  Empire  had  been  unified,  and 
there  was  but  one  Kuler.  It  is  true  that  it  was  not  yet 
the  legitimate  ruler,  but  the  reign  of  the  usurper  seems  to 
have  been  necessary  for  the  welding  together  of  the 
whole. 

Our  sympathies  as  Christians  naturally  go  out  to  the 
heroic  martyrs  and  confessors  of  that  strangely  interesting 


366    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

period.  They  seem  to  have  been  only  the  pawns  on  the 
chessboard,  played  by  the  hands  of  Nobunaga,  Hideyoshi, 
and  leyasu.  In  our  next  chapter  we  shall  see  how  the 
great  men  themselves  were,  after  all,  but  the  knights  and 
castles  on  the  same  great  chessboard  of  history,  and  that 
the  Master  Hand  that  played  them  was  one  far  greater 
than  they  deemed  Him  to  be  when  they  set  aside  the 
testimony  of  His  servants. 


CHAPTER   XXIX 

The  Buddhism  of  the  Tokugawa  Period 

After  leyasu's  victory  at  Sekigahara  (October  21,  1600) 
over  Ishida  Kazushige  and  the  daimyos  who  supported 
the  claims  of  the  family  of  Hideyoshi,  Japan  became,  for 
the  first  time  for  many  centuries,  practically  united  under 
one  head,  and  was  at  last  in  a  position  to  feel  herself  a 
national  unit.  It  is  true  that  the  Imperial  House  still 
continued,  as  before,  to  sit  on  the  throne  in  Kyoto  ;  but 
its  position  was  a  shadowy  one,  and  the  new  Dictator 
made  provision  for  its  remaining  such  ;  for,  in  readjusting 
the  finances  of  the  country,  an  annual  income  of  150,000 
hoku  of  rice  was  deemed  sufficient  to  meet  all  the  expenses 
of  the  Imperial  establishments,  and  even  that  modest  sum 
came,  not  from  any  special  appropriation,  but  out  of  the 
liberal  income  of  four  million  koku,^  which  the  Shogunate 
appropriated  to  itself.  The  Imperial  House  thus  became 
the  pensioner  of  the  Tokugawas,  and  it  is  a  matter  for 
wonder  and  admiration  how,  under  most  adverse  circum- 
stances, the  Court  at  Kyoto  contrived  to  retain  for  itself 
even  the  modicum  of  power  and  influence  that  remained 
in  its  hands.  Those  who  believe  in  a  Divine  Providence 
which  shapes  the  destinies  of  nations,  will  readily  see  in 

1  This  sum  did  not,  of  course,  exhaust  the  resources  of  the  Shogu- 
nate. A  very  large  number  of  fiefs,  some  of  them  of  considerable  value, 
was  in  the  hands  of  members  of  the  Tokugawa  family,  or  of  adherents 
on  whose  absolute  fidelity  leyasu  felt  that  he  could  rely. 


368         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

it  a  gracious  Design  watching  over  the  Hne  of  the  lawful 
Sovereigns  until  the  right  moment  should  arrive  for  the 
Imperial  House  to  resume  its  rightful  place  as  the  active 
head  of  the  nation. 

The  Pax  Tohugawica,  which  leyasu  inaugurated,  rested 
on  very  soUd  foundations,  for  it  was  supported  by  all  the 
best  elements  of  the  Japanese  social  system. 

It  rested,  of  course,  mainly  on  the  power  of  the  sword. 
The  Hojo  Regents  had  demonstrated  the  potential 
importance  of  a  comparatively  small  principaUty  carefully 
administered  on  strictly  military  lines.  Nobunaga,  Hide- 
yoshi,  and  leyasu  trod  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Kamakura 
Eegents,  and,  during  the  early  days  of  the  Shogunate,  the 
samurai  of  the  Tokugawa  clans  maintained  the  superiority 
of  their  military  traditions.  "  After  a  victory,"  said 
leyasu  on  the  bloody  day  of  Sekigahara,  *'  tighten  the 
strings  of  your  helmet ;  "  and  the  maxim  was  acted  upon 
by  his  descendants.  The  new  capital  at  Yedo  was  the 
symbol  of  the  new  power,  which  could  here  expand  itself, 
without  a  rival,  as  freely  as  the  Hojo  had  done  at  Kama- 
kura. It  was  the  rallying-point  for  the  Tokugawa  clans- 
men and  partisans,  who  were  constantly  brought  together, 
and  taught  to  appreciate  the  strength  that  lay  in  their 
unity  of  obedience  and  discipUne  :  it  was  the  ruin  of  the 
distant  daimyos  from  Kyushu  and  the  South,  whose 
attendance  was  required  for  half  the  year  at  the  Court 
of  the  new  Dictator.  It  reduced  the  Imperial  Power  to 
a  shadow  and  a  sentiment,  for  there  was  no  use  in  raising 
the  standard  of  loyahst  revolt,  or  in  occupying  the  city 
of  Kyoto,  so  long  as  the  military  forces  of  the  country 
were  centred  in  and  directed  from  the  recently  strengthened 
Castle  of  Yedo.i 

'  The  ancient  Castle  of  Yedo,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Imperial 
Palace  in  Tokyo,  was  built  in  1456  by  Ota  Dokwan. 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  TOKUGAWA  PERIOD    369 

Again,  it  is  certain  that  leyasu  had  the  support  of  the 
merchant  classes  in  the  administrative  reforms  which  he 
estabhshed.  Even  the  closing  of  the  country  to  foreign 
trade  by  the  Government  of  his  grandson  lemitsu  was 
effected  without  much  protest.  The  truth  is  that  the 
closing  of  the  Japanese  ports  to  foreign  commerce  touched 
no  vested  Japanese  interests.  The  volume  of  trade  was 
very  small :  the  millions  of  Japan  had  no  use  for  the 
articles  which  Europe  had  to  bring  them,  and  the  products 
of  the  country,  after  those  long  years  of  anarchy  and 
trouble,  were  not  much  greater  than  what  the  nation 
needed  for  its  own  private  consumption.  The  Southern 
Daimyos,  crushed  and  crippled,  had  no  longer  any  need 
for  the  guns  and  mihtary  ammunition  which  the  Portuguese 
had  brought  a  century  before,  and  whatever  was  needed 
in  this  line  was  made  by  the  Japanese  themselves.  The 
closing  of  the  ports  to  foreign  ships  injured  no  one  at  the 
moment ;  it  only  prevented  the  creation  of  new  and 
artificial  wants  among  the  people,  and  the  merchants  were 
quite  content  to  have  it  so.  In  the  development  of  the 
internal  commerce,  which  has  always  been  a  great  feature 
in  the  mercantile  life  of  the  country,  they  could  see  their 
profits  before  them.  They  wanted  peace  and  a  steady 
market,  and  leyasu's  administration  assured  them 
both. 

And  the  Buddhists  were  contented  ;  for  Buddhism  has 
always  been  a  merchants'  religion,  and  in  the  prosperity  of 
the  commercial  classes  there  would  always  be  something 
to  spare  for  the  alms-bowl  of  the  mendicant  friar.  They 
had  good  reason  to  be  quite  satisfied.  leyasu  did  not 
treat  them  as  Nobunaga  or  Hideyoshi  had  done.  He 
summoned  them  to  his  councils  ;  he  invited  them  to 
instruct  him  in  the  tenets  of  their  religion  ;  he  professed 
himself  a  convert  to  the  Tendai  sect ;   he  decorated  his 

2  B 


370         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

new  capital  with  magnificent  temples  ^ ;  and  he  gave  the 
Buddhist  clergy  considerable  inquisitorial  powers  by 
making  them  his  registrars,  charged  with  the  special 
surveillance  of  persons  suspected  of  Christianity.^ 

Allied  with  the  Buddhists  were  the  Confucianists  and 
the  Shintoists.  The  former  of  these  had,  as  we  have 
already  had  more  than  one  occasion  to  mention,  always 
cultivated  good  relationships  with  the  Zen  priests.  These 
relationships  were  much  strengthened  by  Chinese  refugees, 
who  came  over  to  Japan  after  the  fall  of  the  Ming  dynasty, 
and  more  especially  by  Ingen  and  the  priests  of  the 
Chinese  Zen  sect  of  Obaku,  whom  I  mentioned  in  my 
last  chapter.  Priests  of  other  sects  likewise  professed 
themselves  followers  of  the  Chinese  sages,  and  many  a 
Confucianist  scholar  shaved  his  head  and  entered  a 
monastery  in  order  that  he  might  thus,  in  greater  quietness, 
prosecute  his  favourite  studies.  But  the  poUtical  wisdom 
of  the  Tokugawa  Government  led  to  the  estabHshment  of 
schools  and  colleges,  such  as  the  Shoheiko  in  Yedo  (inti- 

'  The  Kwan-ei-ji  at  Uyeno  (burned  in  1869  and  never  restored)  was 
one  of  the  Tokugawa  temples.  Its  abbot  was  always  a  Prince  of  the 
Blood,  who  was  thus  practically  a  hostage.  It  was  probably  for  this 
reason,  and  for  its  memories  of  the  degradation  of  the  Imperial  House, 
that  the  temple  was  never  restored.  Other  temples  of  this  period  were 
the  Zojoji  in  Shiba  Park,  the  popular  Kwannonji  at  Asakusa,  and  the 
Higashi  Hongwanji.  They  are  all  imposing  structures.  Nor  must  we 
forget  the  great  mausolea  at  Nikk5. 

*  Popular  education  was  also  in  the  hands  of  the  Buddhist  clergy 
during  this  period.  The  so-called  tera  koya,  or  temple-schools,  first 
established  under  the  Ashikaga,  continued  their  activity  until  the 
Meiji  Restoration.  The  education  was  not  of  a  very  high  order.but  it 
was  the  best  that  was  generally  accessible.  The  Tokugawa  Government, 
for  its  own  retainers  mainly,  founded  a  certain  number  of  schools, 
of  which  the  best  known  was  the  Shoheiko  in  Yedo,  founded  in  1630, 
Hayashi  Bazan  was  a  i professor  in  this  school,  the  programme  of 
studies  becoming  in  a  sense  official  for  the  other  schools.  In  most  of 
these,  medicine  was  taught  as  well  as  philosophy.  But  they  did  not 
profess  to  give  a  popular  education. 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  TOKUGAWA  PERIOD    371 

mately  connected  with  the  Temple  of  Confucius  on  Yiishi- 
madai  in  Hongo),  and  from  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  we  get  a  lay- Confucianism  which,  in  process  of 
time,  completely  overshadows  the  priestly  Confucianism; 
to  which  it  becomes  almost  hostile.^ 

The  Shintoists  were  but  of  little  account  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Tokugawa  age.  But  Hideyoshi  had 
patronized  them,  and  Hideyoshi  remained  for  Japan  a  heau 
ideal  of  knightly  virtues.  Very  few  samurai  ever  found 
much  to  content  their  souls  in  the  life  and  teachings  of 
Buddhism ;  only  here  and  there  was  there  a  studious  soldier 
to  be  found  to  whom  the  booMsh  habits  of  the  Confucianist 
appealed  with  anything  like  the  voice  of  attraction. 
Shintoism,  with  a  sUght  flavour  of  philosophy,  a  vague  but 
deep-seated  rehgiosity,  a  good  deal  of  common  sense, 
and  a  strong  appeal  to  Japanese  pride,  satisfied  most 
minds,  without  demanding  from  them  the  adoption  of 
any  denominational  designation.    It  was  destined  in  the 

*  Papinot  (s.v.  Tokugawa-jidai  no  Keigakuha)  divides  the  Tokngawa 
School  of  Confucianism  into  four  :  (a)  The  school  of  men  like  Fujiwara 
Seikwa,  Hayashi  Kazan,  etc.,  who,  basing  their  teaching  on  the  most 
ancient  works  of  Confucius,  placed  the  Way  of  Wisdom  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  human  nature,  intelligence,  heart,  and  instinct.  (6)  Nakae 
Toju,  Kumazawa  Ryokai,  who  preached  Mencius  rather  than  Confucius, 
and  placed  the  summum  honum  in  the  harmonious  co-operation  of 
knowledge  and  energy.  These  men  were  practically  independent 
of  the  school  of  Fujiwara.  (c)  Ito  Jinsai,  Ogin  Sorai,  etc.,  opposed  the 
School  of  Fujiwara,  which  was  based,  they  said,  on  a  false  interpretation 
of  Confucius.  For  them,  wisdom  lay  in  the  imitation  of  the  ancients. 
(d)  Inouye  Kinga  mediated  between  (a)  and  (c).  His  principles  led  him 
to  the  Han  and  Tang  dynasties  for  a  true  interpretation  of  Confucius. 
One  of  the  best  Japanese  expositions  of  the  history  and  teachings  of 
Confucianism  in  Japan  will  be  found  in  the  writings  of  Professor 
Inouye  Tetsujiro,  of  the  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo.  See  Lloyd, 
•*  Development  of  the  Shushi  Philosophy  in  Japan  "  {Trans.  As.  Soc, 
of  Japan,  xxxiv.  4) ;  papers  by  Dr.  Knox  and  Mr.  Haga,  which  take  up 
the  whole  of  vol.  xx.  pt.  i. ;  and  Mr.  Dening's  very  valuable  contribution 
in  vol.  xxrv.  pt.  iii.  of  the  TranstUitMns  of  the  same  Society. 


372    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

course  of  years  to  become  a  very  potent  factor  in  the 
development  of  the  country. 

Only  two  factors  were  excluded  from  the  new  national 
life — the  Catholics,  and  the  extreme  left  wing  of  the 
intolerant  Nichirenists.  leyasu  found  it  necessary  in  1610 
to  inflict  a  most  severe  punishment  *  on  some  Nichiren 
monks  who  had  been  speaking  too  freely  against  Christians 
and  the  inoffensive  Jodo  beUevers,  and  lemitsu  felt 
himself  obhged  to  proscribe  the  Fujujuze  branch  of  the 
Nichirenists,  exactly  as  he  did  the  believers  in  CathoUcism. 

Every  one  knows  (who  has  read  anything  of  Japanese 
history)  that  the  persecutions  of  Christians  were  of  a 
most  severe  and  cruel  character,  and  that  the  Buddhist 
clergy  became  the  willing  instruments  of  the  Shogunate 
in  the  execution  of  a  cruel  legislation.  No  noblemen  or 
persons  of  any  position  survived  that  ordeal,  except 
through  apostasy :  a  few  of  them  were  martyred,  the 
rest  saved  their  lives  through  a  timely  return  to  the 
religion  of  their  fathers.  It  was  reserved  for  the  farmers 
of  Kyushu  to  set  an  example  of  heroism  under  persecution 
worthy  of  the  earliest  ages  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Without  priests,  without  sacraments,  except  the  Baptism 
which  they  kept  up  amongst  themselves,  without  any  of 

•  Murdoch,  p.  491 :  "  lyeyasu  gave  orders  to  strip  this  bonze  and 
all  his  confrires  of  the  .marks  of  their  dignity.  He  had  them 
ignominiously  promenaded  in  Yedo  and  in  all  the  places  where  the 
bonze  had  spread  his  calumnies,  and  finally  he  had  the  ears  and  most 
of  the  nose  of  the  chief  bonze  cut  oS.  These  unfortunates  became  the 
talk  of  the  whole  people,  and  were  banished  from  Kydto,  leaving  there 
twenty-one  magnificent  houses."  Murdoch  notes  that  the  Nichirenists 
had  almost  exterminated  Christianity  in  the  former  domains  of  the 
Catholic  daimyo  Konishi,  beheaded  after  Sekigahara. 

The  hostility  between  Nichiren  and  Jodo  has  always  been  most 
marked.  The  former  frequently  maintain  that  the  Pure  Land  Sects, 
who  worship  Amida,  should  openly  declare  themselves  for  what  they 
really  are — Christians. 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  TOKUGAWA  PERIOD    373 

the  aids  that  are  used  for  maintaining  the  Christian  hfe, 
and  obliged  to  practise  their  reUgion  in  the  strictest 
secrecy,  in  daily  peril  of  torture  and  death,  these  brave 
men  clung  tenaciously  to  the  hope  of  the  Gospel,  and 
when,  in  1859,  the  French  missionaries  discovered  them 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Nagasaki,  they  were  keeping 
their  Lent  with  simplicity  and  reverence.^ 

But  all  this  was  not  known  to  the  Shogunal  authorities. 
Christianity  had  disappeared  from  the  surface  of  affairs, 
and  had  ceased  to  be  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  by  the 
statesman.  And  when  the  noisy  left  wing  of  the  Nichi- 
renist  extremists  had  been  silenced,  the  land  seemed  at 
peace. 

But  the  peace  was  only  of  short  duration.  The  first 
of  the  great  Confucianists  of  the  Tokugawa  age,  Fujiwara 
Seikwa  (1561-1619),  renounced  his  Buddhism  and  left 
the  Temple  in  which  he  had  been  living,  on  coming  across 
the  cormnentaries  of  Shushi  (Chin.  Churhi)  on  Confucius. 
But  he  was  not  a  controversiaUst,  and  seems  to  have  been 
gentle    towards    Buddhist    and    Shintoist    alike.    His 

'  Thfi  story  is  well  told  by  Mamas  in  "  La  Religion  de  Jesus  Christ 
resuscit^e  au  Japon."  See  also  Wilberforce,  *'  Dominican  Martyrs  in 
Japan."  One  or  two  attempts  were  made  by  the  Roman  Church  to 
communicate  with  these  isolated  Christians,  but  in  vain.  See  Trans. 
As.  Soc.  of  Japan,  vol.  ix.  pt.  2,  and  zxiii.  pt.  3  ;  also  Mitteilungen  d. 
deutschen  Oesellschaft  filr  Natur  und  Vdlkerkunde  Ostasiens  (Tokyo), 
vol.  vi.  (54),  V  (45).  Occasional  relics  of  the  prosecution  are  still  to  be 
found.  The  Ven.  A.  F.  King  was  once  shown  by  a  convert  an  old  box 
which  had  been  in  the  possession  of  his  family  for  very  many  years. 
It  had  never  been  opened,  and  none  of  the  family  knew  what  it  con- 
tained ;  but  it  had  always  been  the  practice  for  the  head  of  the  family 
to  go  into  the  storeroom  where  it  was  kept,  on  certara  fixed  days,  and 
to  spend  some  time  before  the  box  in  silent  worship.  When  the  box 
was  opened,  it  was  found  to  contain  Christian  pictures  and  other  sacred 
emblems.  A  few  years  ago  a  Catholic  priest  in  Tokyo  found  the  bowl 
of  a  chalice  said  to  have  belonged  to  a  native  Jesuit  priest  who  had 
been  martyred.    It  still  belonged  to  the  family  of  the  martyr. 


374    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

successor,  Hayashi  Kazan  (1583-1673),  who  exercised  a 
far  greater  influence  than  Seikwa  on  the  development  of 
thought  under  the  Tokugawas,  hated  Buddhism  only  less 
than  he  hated  Christianity.  Both  were  to  him  anti-social 
forces,  because  they  preached  celibacy  and  retirement 
from  the  world.  Kaibara  Ekiken  (1630-1714)  renounced 
Buddhism  at  an  early  age ;  Tani  Jichii  (1598-1680)  was 
a  life-long  foe  of  the  monastic  system  and  of  the  religion 
of  S'akyamuni.  These  men  were  not  anti-reUgious. 
"  What  does  it  mean,"  asked  one  of  Kinoshita  Junnan's 
(1621-1698)  scholars,  "when  we  are  told  that  'Heaven  is 
Intelligent,  Upright,  and  One '  ?  "  "  It  means,"  answered 
Kinoshita,  "  that  Heaven  knows  what  we  have  in  our 
minds  at  the  very  moment  our  thoughts  arise,  that  It 
judges  with  impartiaHty,  that  It  is  always  the  same." 
Yamazaki  Anzai  (1618-1682),  who  was  reproved  as  a  lad 
by  his  monastic  superiors  for  laughing  in  "  chapel," 
excused  himself  by  saying  that  "  that  fellow  Shaka  talks 
such  nonsense ! "  And  yet  that  same  man,  whose 
doctrines  had  much  to  do  with  the  ultimate  restoration 
of  the  Imperial  House,  had  a  great  deal  in  him  that  was 
worthy  of  a  Christian.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Kaibara 
Ekiken.  In  the  non-Christian  world  it  would  be  hard  to 
find  a  judge  more  fair  and  impartial  than  Arai  Hakuseki, 
or  a  philosophical  guide  more  trustworthy  than  Kaibara. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  when  the  Buddhist  clergy 
got  things  all  their  own  way,  as  they  did  once  for  some  few 
sad  years  during  the  eighteenth  century,  they  gave  their 
alUes  cause  enough  for  grief.  The  first  four  Shoguns, 
leyasu  (1603-1605),  Hidetada  (1605-1622),  lemitsu  (1622- 
1651),  and  letsuna  (1651-1680),  were  men  of  power  and 
intelligence,  and  the  ministers  of  the  last-mentioned  ruler 
had  been  trained  in  the  school  of  lemitsu  according  to  the 
traditions  of  leyasu.    The  Confucianist  politicians  had 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  TOKUGAWA  PERIOD    375 

therefore  a  weighty  voice  in  the  management  of  affairs, 
and  extravagances  of  all  sorts  were  avoided ;  for  even 
Catholic  writers  will  admit  that,  with  the  one  notable 
exception  of  the  Christian  persecutions,  Japan  was  well 
governed,  on  the  whole,  during  the  early  Tokugawa  ad- 
ministrations.^ Yet,  even  under  lemitsu,  the  Confucianists 
had  been  restive  in  double  harness,  and  the  accession  of 
letsuna  had  brought  on  an  abortive  revolt  against  the 
Shogunate.  It  became  necessary  to  forbid  absolutely 
the  translation  of  European  books,  and  the  pubhcation 
of  all  criticisms  on  the  Shogunal  Government  or  the 
morals  of  Yedo. 

But  the  fifth  Shogun,  Tsunayoshi  (1680-1709),  was  a 
literary  pedant  with  a  superstitious  mind.  He  built 
schools,  reformed  the  calendar,  and  spent  large  sums  of 
money  on  the  encouragement  of  art.  On  these  under- 
takings he  wasted  his  substance,  and  by  neglecting  the 
sound  political  precepts  of  his  Confucianist  advisers,^ 
got  his  finances  into  disorder.  To  remedy  these  disorders 
he  applied  to  men  with  little  experience,^  and  on  their 
advice  tampered  with  the  coinage  and  adopted  measures 
which  led  to  an  increase  in  the  prices  of  all  articles  of 
food.  This  did  not  make  him  popular  with  the  common 
people,  and  even  the  submissive  Court  of  Kyoto  began  to 
be  restless  when  the  state  of  the  Shogunal  exchequer 
would  not  permit  of  the  payment  of  the  annual  allowance 
of  150,000  koku  of  rice.  Then,  as  though  this  were  not 
enough,  Tsunayoshi  gave  himself  up  to  monkish  advisers, 
and  embarked  on  a  series  of  most  remarkable  enactments. 

•  The  esteem  in  which  lemitsu  was  held  by  his  immediate  retainers 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  ten  of  his  samurai  committed  suicide  at  his 
grave.    letsuna's  Government  subsequently  forbade  the  practice. 

*  E.g.  Dazai  Junsui.  See  articles  by  R.  J.  Kirby,  Trans.  As,  Soc. 
Japan,  xxxii.,  xxxiv.  4,  xxxv.  2. 

'  Yanagisawa  Yoshiyasu  and  Ogiwara  Shigehide. 


376    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

The  taking  of  animal  life  was  absolutely  forbidden, 
kittens  and  puppies  were  saved  from  the  water-butt,  and 
the  Yedo  police  had  to  keep  track  of  all  the  Utters  that 
were  born,  and  make  accurate  lists  of  sex,  markings,  etc. 
A  samurai  of  Akita,  who  had  the  misfortune  to  kill  a 
swallow,  was  put  to  death  for  the  crime,  and  all  his  family 
sent  into  exile  (1686) ;  the  whole  legislation  being  based 
on  the  theory  that  life  is  sacred — unless  it  were  human  life, 
which  in  Japan  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  far  from  being 
treated  with  reverence.  The  good  citizens  of  Yedo  were 
powerless  against  their  master,  but  they  took  their  revenge 
in  lampoons  on  the  Inu-Kuho,  or  Dog-Shogun,  as  they 
nicknamed  him.  Tsunayoshi  was  murdered  by  his  wife 
in  1709,  and  it  took  the  great  Arai  Hakuseki  all  his 
energies  and  skill,  during  the  next  two  reigns,  to  restore 
the  Shogunate  to  popular  favour.  The  Tokugawas  were 
nearly  always  fortunate  in  the  fidelity  of  their  ablest 
followers.^ 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  men's  minds 
began  to  turn  once  more  to  the  Imperial  House  in  Kyoto, 
and  to  dream  of  a  Restoration  of  that  House  to  its  legiti- 
mate place.  Strangely  enough,  the  first  impetus  to  this 
movement  came  from  the  Tokugawas  themselves.  Toku- 
gawa  Mitsukuni,  a  grandson  of  leyasu,  succeeded  in  1656 
to  the  Daimyate  of  Mito.  He  at  once,  being  a  studious  and 
enlightened  man,  commenced  the  compilation  of  a  vast 
History  of  his  country,  for  the  carrjdng  out  of  which  he 
gathered  in  his  fief-city  a  number  of  prominent  scholars. 
Eminent  amongst  these  was  a  Chinese  scholar,  Shu 
Shunsui,  a  refugee,  who  had  left  his  country  rather  than 

'  Among  these  must  be  reckoned  the  celebrated  0-oka  Tadasuke,  the 
judge  vmder  Tokugawa  Yoshimune  (1716-1745),  whose  wise  though 
eccentric  judgments  did  much  to  reconcile  the  people  to  the  Shogunate. 
Yoshimune  was  very  popular.    His  nickname  was  "  Rice-Shogun." 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  TOKUGAWA  PERIOD    377 

bow  before  the  iUegitimate  Manshu  dynasty,  and  who 
now,  in  his  Japanese  retreat,  imbued  Mitsukuni's  under- 
taking with  a  spirit  of  legitimacy.  The  whole  of  this 
colossal  work  was  not  finished  until  1908,  after  a  chequered 
history  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Its  volumes,  as 
they  appeared,  taught  the  country  to  appreciate  rightly 
the  great  wrongs  that  had  been  done  to  the  Imperial 
House  by  Minamoto,  Hojo,  and  Ashikaga,  to  acknowledge 
the  rightful  succession  of  the  South  at  the  time  of  the 
Eival  Dynasties,  to  feel  for  Go-daigo,  to  applaud  the 
loyalty  of  the  brave  Masashige.  It  was  but  natural  for 
the  reader  to  pass  on  to  the  question  of  the  legitimacy  of 
the  Tokugawa  Dictatorship.  One  by  one,  converts  were 
gained  for  the  new  Crusade  ;  it  was  not  without  danger 
that  such  principles  were  enounced  in  the  face  of  the 
hard-handed  tyrants  of  Yedo  ;  many  of  the  bolder  spirits 
fell  as  martyrs  in  the  good  cause  ;  ^  when  at  last,  in  1867, 
the  crisis  came,  and  the  Emperor  claimed  his  rightful 
inheritance,  the  heir  of  the  Mito  Tokugawas  was  to  be 
found  fighting  for  the  principles  of  legitimacy  against  his 
kinsman  the  Shogun. 

With  the  loyalists  must  be  also  reckoned  the  men  who 
wished  to  see,  not  merely  the  Restoration  of  the  Imperial 
power,  but  also  that  of  the  old  national  Shinto.  Kado 
Azumamaro  (1668-1736),  Kamo  Mabuchi  (1697-1769), 
Moto-ori  Norinaga  (1730-1801),  and  Hirata  Atsutane 
(1776-1843),  are  all  names  of  persons  well  known  among 
their  countrymen  for  their  painstaking  boldness  in  the 
elucidation  of  the  ancient  chronicles,  the  Kojiki  and 
Nihongi,  and  in  the  enunciation  of  loyalistic  principles. 
The  well-known  story  of  the  Forty-seven  Ronin  derives 

*  We  might  mention  Yamagata  Daini  and  Fujii  Umon,  executed  in 
1758,  and  Takenouchi  Shikibu,  exiled  the  same  year.  See  also  the 
"  Life  of  Watanabe  Noboru  "  in  Trans,  As.  Soc.  of  Japan,  vol.  xxxii. 


378         THE  CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

its  interest  to  the  Japanese  from  its  connection  with  the 
slow  struggle  between  Emperor  and  Shogun,  with  which  it 
was  indirectly  connected. 

Another  group,  not  to  be  neglected,  was  the  small 
band  of  Dutch  scholars.  The  poUcy  of  the  Shogunate  had 
left  one  little  loophole,  the  Dutch  factory  at  Deshima,  for 
the  entrance  of  Western  thought.  The  books  and 
scientific  instruments,  which  thus  came  into  the  country, 
sufficed  to  keep  alive  in  many  hearts  the  eager  desire  for 
a  wider  and  less  restricted  intercourse  with  the  wonderful, 
because  unknown,  nations  of  the  West. 

All  these  elements  combined  against  the  Shogunate 
and  its  allies,  the  Buddhist  congregations.  In  the  course 
of  the  two  centuries  between  the  accession  of  lemitsu  and 
the  arrival  of  Commodore  Perry,  the  Shogunal  Govern- 
ment had  lost  its  predominant  military  strength,  and  the 
Buddhists  that  chastened  meekness  which  had  marked 
them  after  Nobunaga,  Hideyoshi,  and  leyasu  had  taken 
them  well  in  hand.  Neither  was  as  strong  as  it  had 
once  been,  and  neither  was  generally  popular.  Commo- 
dore Perry's  arrival  was  the  occasion,  but  not  the  cause, 
of  the  successful  Restoration  of  the  Imperial  Power.  It 
would  have  come  in  any  case,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
intelligent  Japan  was  agreed  in  wanting  it. 

Shortly  after  the  accomplishment  of  the  Restoration 
Buddhism  was  disestablished  and  disendowed.  The 
Buddhist  emblems  were  removed  from  the  Imperial 
Palace,  the  Ryobu  Temples  purified  by  the  removal  of 
Buddhist  Idols  and  the  ejection  of  the  Buddhist  clergy, 
who  lost  not  only  most  of  their  special  privileges,  but  a 
very  large  proportion  of  their  revenues.  The  newly 
established  Government,  while  proclaiming  its  adhesion 
to  the  newly  revived  Shinto  faith,  took  care  to  be  absolutely 
neutral  in  everything  that  concerned  the  rehgious  life  of 


BUDDHISM  OF  THE  TOKUGAWA  PERIOD    379 

its  subjects.  It  was  the  only  possible  course  to  adopt : 
the  Government  could  not  favour  one  religion  with  the 
same  hand  with  which  it  pulled  down  another.  In 
process  of  time,  the  prohibitions  against  Christianity  were 
allowed  to  drop  ;  the  promulgation  of  the  Constitution 
formally  guaranteed  to  every  subject  of  the  Empire  the 
free  exercise  of  his  religion. 

Nichiren,  who  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  prophet  of 
Buddhism,  called  the  attention  of  his  hearers  to  the 
condition  of  Japan  as  he  saw  it,  distracted  by  many 
Lords  and  many  Faiths.  The  subsequent  religious 
development  of  the  country  has  been,  as  it  were,  a  com- 
mentary on  that  prophecy.  The  terrible  troubles  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  wars  and  the  bloodshed,  were  the 
necessary  instruments  in  the  hands  of  Providence  for  the 
working  out  of  the  first  step  in  the  elevation  of  the  country. 
Nobunaga  and  Hideyoshi  hammered  on  the  hot  iron,  and 
leyasu  welded  it  into  a  consistent  whole,  able  to  stand  the 
test  of  time. 

Japan  was  united  into  one  body,  under  one  Ruler — 
but  the  Ruler  was  an  usurper,  and  the  legitimate  House 
of  Sovereigns  did  not  seem  to  be  in  a  position,  at  the 
time,  to  do  what  the  powerful  Tokugawa  was  able  to 
accomplish.  In  this  chapter  I  have  tried  to  show  the 
attainment  of  the  second  step.  The  Meiji  Era  has  seen 
Japan  still  united,  and  united  under  its  lawful  Sovereign. 
No  one  can  read  the  moving  history  of  the  Imperial  House 
of  this  country,  with  its  strange  vicissitudes  and  its  long- 
continued  afflictions,  without  feeling  that  it  has  had  some 
Divine  mission  to  perform.  Nothing  but  the  special 
protection  of  God  could  have  preserved  that  House 
through  all  the  troubles  of  so  many  centuries,  and  these 
special  gifts  of  Divine  protection  generally  imply  some 
very  special  motive  in  the  Giver. 


38o         THE   CREED   OF   HALF  JAPAN 

One  more  step  seems  to  be  before  Japan.  She  is  now 
One  Nation,  united  under  One  Ruler,  who  has  the  legiti- 
mate right  to  rule.  When  she  has  taken  her  next  step, 
and  has  reached  the  acknowledgment  of  the  One  God, 
who  also  has  the  legitimate  right  to  rule,  she  will  have 
reached  the  true  apex  of  her  moral  greatness.  In  that 
consummation,  the  Mahayana,  which  has  for  so  long  had 
our  thoughts,  will  find  its  proper  place  and  its  proper  meed 
of  honour  and  reward,  for  it  also,  like  Nobunaga,  and  Uke 
the  Jesuits,  has  been  but  a  piece  on  the  chessboard  played 
by  the  hand  of  God,  and  not  one  such  piece 

"  shall  be  destroyed, 
Or  cast  as  rubbish  to  the  Void, 
When  God  has  made  the  pile  complete." 

What  agencies  shall  be  employed  in  the  future  develop- 
ment, or  what  other  pieces  shall  be  moved  in  the  course 
of  this  interesting  game,  is  a  matter  of  secondary  impor- 
tance. The  real  player  in  the  game  is  God,  and  we  men, 
the  best  of  us,  are  but  pawns  and  knights,  and  here  and 
there  a  bishop.  Only,  when  the  last  move  takes  place, 
and  the  game  is  about  to  be  finished,  I  will  ask  for  myself 
*  that  I  may  be  there  to  see." 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

Eecapitulation 

It  shall  be  my  pleasant  task  in  this  concluding  chapter  to 
recapitulate  for  my  reader  all  that  I  have  put  before  him 
in  a  long  and  rather  prolix  narration. 

I  would,  first,  call  attention  to  the  remarkable  parallels 
between  the  history  of  Christianity  and  that  of  the  Buddhist 
Mahay  ana. 

Both  faiths  begin  in  that  marvellous  sixth  century 
before  Christ,  which  saw  the  beginnings  of  so  much  that 
has  been  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.  Philosophy  began 
for  man  in  Greece,  in  India,  and  in  China.  S'akyamuni 
was  founding  a  rehgion  which,  if  not  perfect,  is  at  any 
rate  one  that  commands  our  most  reverent  sympathy  and 
affection,  and  the  later  exponents  of  Judaism,  the  exihc 
and  post- exilic  prophets  and  psalmists,  the  teachers  of 
the  law,  and  the  great  Fathers  of  the  later  Faith  of  Jeru- 
salem, were  distinctly  raising  the  faith  of  Israel  to  a  higher 
plane  in  preparation  for  a  great  event  to  come. 

The  great  event  came.  It  came  at  the  right  moment 
for  East  and  West.  It  was  Hke  a  stone  flung  into  the 
midst  of  a  large  pool,  that  falls  with  a  mighty  splash  and 
sets  up  ripples  which  go  forth  equally  on  all  sides,  and 
never  rest  till  they  break  upon  the  distant  margins. 
We  have  been  accustomed  to  watch  the  ripples  that  have 
gone  out  West  and  North  from  the  splash  made  in  the 
world's  religious  history  by  the  Advent  of  Christ.    We 


382    THE  CREED  OF  HALF  JAPAN 

have  seen  those  ripples  bringing  new  Hfe  to  Europe, 
revivifying  philosophy  and  art,  giving  men  nobler  thoughts 
and  aspirations,  and  laying  the  foundations  of  that  religion 
of  humanity  which  is  bound  up  with  the  name  of  Christ. 

I  have  tried  in  this  book — tentatively  and  with  the 
uncertain  tread  of  a  pioneer  going  through  untrodden 
brushwood — to  trace  the  ripples  that  flowed  out  eastward 
from  the  splash  of  the  stone.  Occasionally  I  have  seemed 
to  myself  to  see  the  traces  of  Christ  distinct  and  clear, 
though  few  and  far  between,  and  not  sufficient  in  number 
or  quantity  to  allow  of  anything  very  elaborate  in  the  way 
of  deduction  and  inference.  But  during  the  whole  of  the 
first  millennium  of  the  Christian  era,  a  period  corresponding 
very  nearly  with  the  millennium  of  Image  Law  of  which 
Buddhists  speak,  I  find  the  same  phenomena  both  East 
and  West — a  chaos  of  heresies,  each  claiming  to  be  heard  as 
thp  sole  exponent  of  the  Truth,  and  amidst  them  all  one 
fact :  the  proclamation  that  there  is  one  Being  who  has 
given  Himself  for  man,  that  man  through  Him  might  have 
life.  The  proclamation  in  the  West,  in  spite  of  heresies 
and  in  spite  of  the  manifold  superstitions  of  a  dark  age,  is 
clear  and  distinct.  In  the  East  it  is  not  so  distinct ;  it  is 
Uke  a  lotus-seed,  sown  deep  down  in  the  slime  at  the  bottom 
of  the  pool.  It  is  there,  and  it  grows,  but  it  takes  some 
time  to  reach  the  surface. 

With  the  end  of  the  first  millennium  of  Christendom 
comes  the  period  which  the  Buddhist  knows  as  Mappb,  the 
"  last  days,"  the  period  of  the  "  Destruction  of  the  Law." 
As  this  period  comes  on,  the  Christian,  forgetting  the  spirit 
he  is  of,  grasps  the  sword,  for  the  conquest  of  the  Holy 
Land,  for  the  extirpation  of  Albigenses  and  other  heretics. 
So  does  the  Buddhist.  It  is  the  age  of  the  great  barrack 
monasteries,  and  of  the  wars  waged  by  the  monks  of 
Hieizan,  Onjoji,  Negoro,  Hongwanji,  for  the  defence  of 


RECAPITULATION  383 

their  supposed  rights  and  the  injury  of  their  neighbour. 
In  the  midst  of  this  period,  disciples  of  the  inquisition-loving 
Nichiren,  who  was  yet  a  seer,  find  themselves  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  disciples  of  the  inquisition-loving  St. 
Dominic,  and  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  see 
in  Japan  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  Inquisition. 
Yet  the  same  period  sees  the  loud  proclamation,  so  com- 
forting to  the  outcast  and  the  sinner,  of  Salvation  by  Faith 
alone,  through  the  mercies  of  One  whose  compassion  has 
from  the  first  been  known,  though  under  different  names, 
to  the  Mahayanist  and  to  the  Christian.  St.  Francis  and 
Wiclif  (they  will  forgive  me  for  thus  coupling  their  names) 
are  the  Christian  counterparts  of  Honen  and  Shinran.  The 
Schoolmen,  too,  whose  labour  it  was  to  reconcile  Aristotle 
and  Christ,  find  their  counterparts  in  the  labours  of  the 
great  Japanese  scholars  of  the  middle  ages,  who  worked  to 
reconcile  S'akyamuni  and  Confucius. 

The  first  Christian  millennium  did  not  pass  aw6,y 
without  its  warning  of  impending  change.  The  Moslem 
peril  profoundly  moved  Christendom,  the  same  peril 
threatened  China  under  the  Tang.  In  both  parts  of  the 
world,  the  meaning  of  the  warning  was  largely  misread,  as 
was,  probably,  the  similar  warning  of  the  Mongols,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  second  millennium. 

This  second  millennium,  which  is  the  Buddhist  period 
of  the  Mappo,  is  not  yet  finished  ;  but  may  we  not  say  that 
we  have  had  the  warning  of  an  impending  change  ?  A 
man  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  man  of  science,  a  dreamer, 
and  yet  a  seer,  amused  his  contemporaries  by  proclaiming 
that  the  year  1757  had  seen  in  "  the  heavenlies  "  a  spiritual 
judgment  which  was  to  be  the  precursor  of  a  new  Age  and 
of  a  new  Church.  He  brought  no  proof  for  his  assertion, 
except  the  testimony  of  one  of  his  own  visions,  and  his 
testimony  was  rejected  all  bi^t  unanimously.    And  yet  tl^e 


384         THE   CREED   OF   HALF   JAPAN 

year  1757  saw  the  declaration  of  the  Seven  Years'  War, 
which  brought  in  its  train  the  rise  of  Prussia,  the  unification 
of  Germany,  and  all  Uiat  Germany  stands  for  in  the 
mvil^gjp.t.i9n  of  the  world.  It  saw  the  accession  to  power  in 
England  of  the  elder  Pitt,  and  the  commencement  of  those 
operations  against  France  which  led  to  the  conquest  of 
Canada  and  the  ultimate  securing  of  Anglo-Saxon  supre- 
macy on  the  Continent  of  North  America.  It  witnessed 
the  battle  of  Plassey,  which  secured  the  British  supremacy 
in  India,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  world's  history 
enabled  Eastern  thought  and  Western  to  meet  each  other 
and  compare  notes.  If  it  had  not  been  for  Plassey  there 
would  have  been  no  Oriental  studies,  and  possibly  but  few 
Christian  Missions  in  India.  It  saw,  in  France,  those 
attacks  on  Christianity,  led  by  Montesquieu,  Rousseau, 
and  the  Encyclopaedists,  which  led  to  the  French  Revolu- 
tion. It  found  the  Wesleys  at  the  commencement  of  their 
labours.    Surely  it  was  a  year  full  of  pregnant  significance. 

The  significance  becomes  deeper  for  us,  whose  hearts 
are  in  Japan,  when  we  remember  that  it  also  found  Kamo 
Mabuchi  preparing  to  retire  from  his  active  duties  in  order 
to  devote  himself  to  those  historical  studies  which  ulti- 
mately led  to  the  restoration  of  the  Imperial  House,  and 
the  entry  of  Japan  into  the  world  of  civiUzed  nations. 

The  mills  of  God  grind  slowly.  There  is  no  hurry  or  haste 
in  the  workings  of  Providence.  A  long  time  has  passed 
since  the  Swedish  seer  made  his  announcement,  but  to-day 
it  needs  no  prophetic  gift  to  tell  us  that  a  new  era  is  at  hand, 
that  the  old  is  passing  away,  that  a  new  day  dawns. 

One  thing  never  passes  away.  Heaven  and  Earth  may 
change,  the  whole  political  and  social  fabric  of  the  world 
may  perish,  but  God's  Word  will  not  do  so.  Whatever 
form  the  new  world  may  take,  it  will  have  a  religion,  and 
that  reUgion  will  be  based  on  the  Eternal  Verities, 


RECAPITULATION  385 

The  Christian — I  will  claim  nothing  for  myseH  but 
that — ^finds  it  to  be  his  duty,  his  pleasure,  and  his  pride,  to 
commend  those  Eternal  Verities,  quietly,  soberly,  tem- 
perately, to  the  people  amongst  whom  he  Uves.  And  he 
must  do  it  sympathetically,  for  the  most  eloquent  sermon, 
if  devoid  of  sympathy,  will  necessarily  fail  to  touch  the 
heart  of  the  people. 

Buddhism  is  the  religion  of  the  great  bulk  of  the 
Japanese  people.  The  farmers  are  Buddhists,  so  are  the 
shopkeepers,  so  are  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people. 
The  ladies  of  the  upper  classes  are  Buddhists,  so  are  most 
of  their  husbands,  l£  they  will  be  honest  with  themselves. 
Buddhism  does  not  go  well  with  the  frock-coat  and  top 
hat  which  are  the  joy  of  the  Japanese  gentleman,  and  so 
he  affects  to  lay  it  aside  as  a  thing  past  use  ;  but  there 
comes  to  one  and  all  a  time  when  frock-coat  and  top  hat 
fail  to  protect  the  head  and  heart  against  the  terrors  of 
a  change  inevitable  and  universal,  and  then  I  find  that 
the  Japanese  turns  after  all  to  the  faith  which  he  has  spent 
his  life  in  professing  to  neglect.  One  has  but  to  learn  the 
Japanese  language,  and  study  the  Uterature  of  to-day's 
daily  life,  to  understand  what  a  hold  Buddhism  has  on 
the  thoughts  and  affections  of  the  people. 

Christianity,  if  it  would  win  Japanese  Buddhism  for 
Christ  (and  surely  that  is  an  inspiring  ambition),  must  take 
these  things  into  consideration.  Buddhism  needs  its 
special  preachers — ^men  of  sympathy  and  patience ;  men 
who,  while  proud  of  being  Christians,  are  yet  willing  for 
Christ's  sake,  to  be  followers  of  S'akyamuni  in  all  things 
lawful  and  honest ;  men  who  can  say  to  the  Buddhist,  "  I 
will  walk  with  you,  and  together  we  will  go  to  Him  to 
whom  you  say  S'akyamuni  Himself  bore  witness."  It  is 
for  such  readers,  primarily,  that  I  have  ventured  to 
write  this  outline  of  Mahayana  History. 

2  c 


"  Charity  never  faileth ;  but,  whether  there  be  prophecies,  they 
shall  fail ;  whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease ;  whether  there 
be  knowledge  {yvu<ris,  bodhi),  it  shall  vanish  away." 


INDEX 


Abdications  of  Japanese  Em- 
perors, etc.,  260,  283 

Abhidanua  (metaphysical  treatise) 
sect,  163 

Abhi^ekha.    See  Kwanjo 

Abraxas,  38,  58,  63,  239 

Accotmnodation  of  truth  (see 
Hoben),  282 

Adi-Buddha,  107-110,  113.  See 
Amitabha,  Vaeboc'ana,  S'akya- 

MUNI,  OlTE 

Akshobya  (Ashuku  Nyorai),  124, 

128 
Alexander  the  Great,  24,  34 
Alexandria,  37,  58,  etc. 
Amaterasu,  identified  with  Vairo- 

c'ana,  201 
Amida  =  Amitabha 
Amitabha,  16,  128 ;  as  v|/i»xo7ro^ir<Jy, 

129  ;  expounded,  265  ;  appears 

to  Kyonen,  271,  273 
'A/uTpoxdrris,  26 
Ananda,  21,  36 
Anavatapta,  Lake,  112 
Anshikao,    111,    117;    identified 

with  Axidares,  118 
Antigonus  Gonatas,  34,  36 
Antioch,  57,  69 
Antiochus  I.,  26,  29,  32 
Antiochus  11.,  33 
Arcaoun  (Christian),  338 
Aristippus,  36 
Arthur,  King,  251.     See   Buddha 


Asangha,  162,  199,  251 

As'oka,  26,  28;    edicts,  39;    his 

policy,  47 
Astikas,  109 

As'vaghosha,  53, 79, 80, 96, 97, 102  n. 
As'vamedha,  49 
Avalokites'vara,  120,  129 
Avatamsaka  Scriptures,  113.     See 

Keg  ON 
Awakening  of  the  Faith,  103 


Bactbia,  44 

Baptism  (see  Abhis'ekha,  Kwan- 
jo)  for  the  dead,  115 

Basilides,  38,  58,  60,  61 

Benares,  99 

Bibliothecal  catastrophes,  80, 154 

Bindusara,  25,  33,  36 

Birth  stories,  85,  93;  birth  of 
S'akyamuni  from  side  of  his 
mother,  12 

Bodhidharma,  195,  210,  279 

Bodhisattva,  rules  of,  133, 134, 135 

Bosatsu  Kai.    See  Bodhisattva 

Books,  Buddhist  (when  first 
written),  86 

Buddha  compared  with  Christ, 
20  71. ;  his  country,  5 ;  his  begging- 
bowl,  99,  100,  102,  105  (see 
Abthub)  ;  one,  original,  110 
(see  under  One)  ;  see  also  S'ak- 
yamuni 


388 


INDEX 


Buddhas,  the  thirteen,  65;  the 
Five,  the  Dhyani,  62,  239 

Buddhism,  before  Buddha,  325 ; 
in  Alexandria,  69 ;  in  China  and 
India  (see  under  Sects)  ;  bank- 
ruptcy of,  in  sixteenth  century, 
348 ;  disestablished  in  Japan, 
878 

Buddhist,  clergy  as  registrars,  370 ; 
schools,  370 ;  extravagances 
under  Tokugawas,  374 

Buddhoganga,  Chinese  ordina- 
tions, 142 

Cabbalah, 60,  68 

Cannibals,  mission  to,  9 

Caulaucau,  58,  63,  70 

Causation,  chain  of,  20  n. 

Ceylon,  or  Taprobane,  46,  100 

Chandragupta,  25 

Changan.     See  Singanfu 

Chang-sun,  dying  works  of,  192 

China,  intercourse  of  India  with, 
10  ;  Japanese  monks  in,  338 

Chinese  Befugees  in  Japan,  376 

Christian  echoes  in  Shinshu  writ- 
ings, 274 

Chrysanthemum  (16-petalled),  64, 
123 

Civil  wars,  342 ;  Gempei,  259 ; 
Onin  no  tairan,  344 ;  Tembun 
Horan,  347 ;  Ikkoto  no  ran, 
348 

Classes,  in  Dharmagupta  Vinaya, 
133 

Collaboration,  Christian  and  Bud- 
dhist, 219,  226,  339 

Confucianism,  170  ;  schools  of,  in 
Japan,  371 ;  quarrels  with  Bud- 
dhism, 374 

Constitution  (Shotoku's),  182,  210 

Councils  :  Eajagriha,  21, 132 ;  Vai- 
toli,  23  ;  As'oka's,  27  ;  Kanish- 
ka's,  104 


Creator,  not  mentioned  in  certain 

creeds,  266 
Cubricus,  148 
Gyrene,  33 
Cyrenaics,  36 
Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  67, 146 

Daitoku,  218 
Dai-im-Komyo,  150,  217 
Dalai  Lama,  339 
Death-bed  custom,  273 
Desiccation  of  Central  Asia,  138 
Destruction    of    Law,    124.     See 

Millenniums 
Dharmagupta,  131,  etc. 
Dharmakaya,  103 
Dharmaraksha,  78,  79 
Dhyani  Buddhas,  62 
Diamond  world,  63 
Diaspora,  Jewish,  extent  of,  49 
Docetism,  109 
Dokyo,  227 
Donran,  214 
Doshaku,  214 
Dragon's  Palace,  96,  107 
Dualism  (of  Shingon),  240 
Dutch  scholars,  378 
Dynasties  of  North  and  South,  343 

Edicts,  As'oka's,  28,  39,  etc. 
Egypt,  outside  of  St.  Paul's  pro- 
vince, 60 
End  of  age,  84 
Eon  (Hwui-yin),  100,  213 
Essenes,  37,  59 
Euhemerus,  34 
Eunapius,  143  n. 
Excalibur,  251 

Fah-hian,  157 

Faith  in  another,  110;   necessity 
of,  268,  273 


INDEX 


389 


Fi/oe  Buddhas,  62;  Dairiki,  309; 

herbs,  151 ;   periods  of  S'akya- 

muni's     teaching,     317,     320 ; 

rulers,  141,  154.     See  also  239, 

254,308 
Forty-two  Sections,  Sutra  of  the, 

80 
Fujufuze.    See  Intransigeant 
Fulin,218 

GAIiI£<£E,  53 

Grandhara  art,  inspired  from  An- 
tioch  and  Alexandria,  124 

Ganjin  Kwasho,  229 

Gempei,  259.     See  Civiri  wabs 

Genghis  Khan,  identified  by  some 
with  Yoshitsime,  330 

Genku.    See  Honen 

Gnosticism,  68  ff . ;  compared  with 
Shingon,  61 ;  Syrian  and  Alex- 
andrian, 238 

Gobharana,  78 

Godaigo,  341 

••  Great  One  Descending  Man,"  50, 
78.    See  Shiloh 

Great  Wall,  erection  of,  45 

Greek  Principalities  in  India,  55  n. 

Greeks  visit  our  Lord,  54 

Gundaphorus,  72,  73,  74 

Gyogi  Bosatsu,  198 

Gyonen,  131,  133 

Hachiman,  170,  198,  228 

Han  dynasty,  end  of,  137 

Han  Sutras,  52,  117,  etc.,  210 

Harai  (Sanskrit  Parajika),  136 

Hegesias,  36 

Heian,  225,  230 

Hejirah,  193 

Herakles,  identified  with  S'akya- 

muni,  85 
Herbs,  Five,  151 
Heretics  to  be  extirpated,  273.  See 

iNQtnSITION 


Hideyoshi,  345,  353,  356,  360 

Himalaya,  13  2 

Hinayana,  its  meaning,  1  fi.,  121 ; 

sects  of,  24  n, 
Hiouen  Thsang,  116, 196,  210 
Hippolytus,  111 
Hoben,  282 

Hojo  Regents,  275,  341 
Hokekyo.     See   Saddhaemapdn- 

DABIKA 

Honan,  Jews  in,  53 

Honen  Shonin,  215,  272,  314,  318, 

319 
H0880  sect,  116, 165, 199 
Hozo  Biku,  111,  267 
Huns,  41,  143 
Hunting,  not  discountenanced  by 

Kobo,  250 
Hwangti,  45 


lEHTFsn,  364 

leyasu,  345,  356,  363,  367 

Image  Law  (period  of),  91,  124 

Immoral  practices,  70 

Inari,  254 

India,  6,  141,  278 

Indians  in  Japan,  247 

Indo-Parthians,  52 

Indulgences,  the  Ten,  23 

Inquisition    (Japanese),  323,  324, 

383 
Intransigeants(jFzf;iZ/kse),347, 372 
Irenseus,  55,  111,  115 
Irish  legends  of  Scythia,  46 
Iron  Tower,  107,  115 


Jambudvipa,  2,  42,  95,  105 
Japanese,  consecration  of  language 
to  religious  uses,  352,  365  ;  con- 
stancy of  Christians,  353 ;  expe- 
ditions to  Korea,  171 ;  Imperial 
chrysanthemum,  123 

2  c  2 


390 


INDEX 


Jesuits,  at  first  taken  as  preaching 
a  variant  form  of  Buddhism, 
839,  354;  characterization  of, 
851 

Jewish  influence,  49 ;  diaspora, 
49  n.,  55,  219 

Jingu  Kogo,  170 

Jiron  sect,  164 

Joachim,  Abbot,  806,  333 

Jodo  sect,  164,  215,  224 

Jogyo  Bosatsu  (id.  with  Nichiren), 
303 

Jojitsu  sect,  163 

Josho-e,  68 


Kadphises,  I.  and  II.,  98 

Kaidan,  234 

Kaifongfu,  53 

Kamakura,  275  R. 

Kanishka,  King,  73 

Karma,  14 

Kashmir,  22 

Ka^yapa,  21 ;  his  ten  dreams,  87  ; 

Canon,  126 
Ka^yapa  Matanga,  78,  79 
Katha  Vatthu,  94 
Kawaguchi,  Rev.  Ekai  (quoted), 

70 
Kegon,  112,   114,  165,  202.     See 

AVATAMSAKA 

Kennio  Kosa,  359,  361 

Kennyo  Shonin,  339 

Khotan,  45, 121,  152 

King  of  kings,  Hwangti's  title,  45 

Kingsmill,   T.  W.   (quoted),   119, 

120 
Kobo  Daishi,  60,   125,   233,  etc., 

243,  etc.,  248 
Kojiki,  206 
Koken,  Empress,  226 
Komyoji,  208 
Korea,  144,  168 
Kop^  K6(TiJ.ov,  37,  59 


Kshattriyas,  6,  10 

Kudara,  King  of,  sends  images, 

172 
Kukai,     See  Kobo  Daishi 
Kumarajiva,  143,  157,  210 
Kushans,  121,  138 
Kwannon  (miracle),  207 
Kwanjo,  115  ;  of  Ryobu,  249,  308 
Kyushu,  Jesuits  in,  354 

Lamaism,  339 

Legends,  of  Kobo,  243,  245;  of 
Asangha,  251 ;  of  St.  Thomas, 
71 ;  of  Ming-ti,  76 ;  of  As'va- 
ghosha,  99 ;  of  Nagarjuna,  113  ; 
Irish  and  Welsh,  46,  100 

Liang  dynasty,  172 

Loc'ana,  199 

Lokaraksha,  111,  117 

Loyalists,  376 

Loyang,  111,  117 

Mabito,  76,  77,  82 
Mabuchi  (Kamo),  384 
Madhyamika  system,  109 
Magas  (of  Oyrene),  26,  32,  36 
Magi,  Visit  of,  51,  52 
Mahasanghikas,  21,  90 
Mahasthamaprapta,  =  Seishi,  130 
Mahavira,  12 
Mahayana,    passim ;     contrasted 

with  Hiuayana,  1  ff. 
Mailapur,  74 
Maitreya,  112,  125 
Mandara,  63,  246 
Manichseism,  67,  145,  etc.,   213, 

239,  241 
Manjusri,  8,  112, 120,  247 
Mantra  (quoted),  125  n. 
Mathm-a,  76 
Matthew,  St.,  51 
Mamas  (quoted),  873 
Mauryas,  47 
Mendseans,  145,  146 


INDEX 


391 


Merchants,  their  religion,  9 
Milinda,  questions  of,  91 
Militant  monks,  346,  358,  361 
Millenniums,  300,  304,  306,  340 
Ming-ti,  76 
Miseries  of  Japan,  241,  264,  344, 

345 
Missions  (Christian),  156,  216 
Mongols,     Nichiren's     warnings, 
297 ;  history,  329 ;   invasion  of 
Japan,  333 ;  religion,  335 ;  Chris- 
tians at  Court,  336 
Munro,  Dr.  (quoted),  64,  123 

Nagabjuna,  96, 105,  108, 147,  202 
Nagas,  10  and  n.,  113 
Namudaishi,  243 
Nastikas,  109 
Nativity  stories,  85,  93 
Nemesis,  14 

Nengo.     See  Yeae-peeiods 
Nestorians,     193,    203,    218     (ua 

Japan,  223),  339 
New  Testament,  all  fulfilled,  83 
Nichiren,  287 ;  Nichirenists,  358, 

etc.,  372 
Nicolaitans,  55 
Nicolas  of  Antioch,  69 
Nihongi,  206 

Ninefold  Vision  of  Amida,  267 
Nirvana,  14, 15  ;  name  of  sect,  164 
Ni-zen,  301 

Nobunaga,  345,  353,  355,  356,  358 
Nyorai,  50,  78,  82 

Obakd  sect,  365 

Odorinembutsu,  242 

Ogdoad,  64 

Ogimachi,  Emperor,  356 

One  Original   Buddha,   Adi-Bud- 

dha,     110;     S'akyamuni,    304; 

Amida,  266-8 ;  Vairoc'ana,  64, 

238 


Ophites,  111 

Ordinations,   Chinese,    149,  155; 

in  Japan,  234 
Osiris,  identified  with  Vairoc'ana, 

64 

Paldava  (=  Parthian),  74 
Panchao,  General,  77,  98 
Pantasnus,  52,  113  «. 
Parajika,  136 
Parallels,  Christian  and  Buddhist, 

314.  340 
Ilapovffla,  82 
Parthia,  43 
Patriarchs,  succession  of,  22,  88 

TO. ;  Shingon,  256  ;  Shinshu,  270 
Patronage  of  rulers,  291 
Pax  Tokugawica,  368 
Peisithanatos,  36 
Pergamus,  kings  of,  33 
Peshawur,  73 
Pitakas,  the,  21  n. 
Pistis  Sophia,  65,  71 
Pilgrims,  Chinese,  to  India,  157 

See  HiouEN  Thsang 
Pithon,  M.,  quoted,  143,  154 
Pleroma,  63.     See  Mandala 
Pomash,  78 
Practical  subjects  chosen  by  Han 

translators,  127 
Prajna,  name  of  priest,  247,  339 
Priyadars'in  (As'oka),  29 
Prophecies,  Buddhist,  91,  97,  305 
Pushyamitra,  47 

BA.,  38 

Relics,  miraculous,  79 

Remnant    of   faithful    Catholics, 

372 
Rennyo  Shonin,  348 
Revelation,  Book  of,  83 ;  contact 

with  the  Far  East,  57 
Rissho  Ankoku  ron,  307 
Ritsu,  165.    See  Vinaya 


392 


INDEX 


Rivalries    of    European   nations, 

353 
Roads  in  the  Roman,  Parthian, 

and  Chinese  empires,  77 
Roshana,  199 
Ryobu,  141,  198,  246;  abolished, 

378 
Ryonen,  271 

Sabbath, 16 

Saddharmapundarika,  66 ;  ana- 
lysed, 161,  187 ;  its  divisions, 
289,  300,  302 

Saga,  Emperor,  249 

Saicho,  225.     See  Dbngyo. 

Saimyoji,  283 

S'akyamuni,  6, 12,  18, 28,  126 ;  his 
teaching,  15 ;  no  atheist,  17 ; 
character  of,  20  ;  identified  with 
Herakles,  85 ,  the  Supreme,  298 

S'akyans,  6,  44 

Samurai,  growth  of,  263 

Sanron  sect,  112,  163, 176 

Sapor  I.,  148 

Sarvastivadins,  90,  94, 109 

Scythia,  46,  98, 100 

Scythianus,  67, 146 

Sects  :  contemporary  with  S'ak- 
yamuni, 11 ;  of  the  Hlnayana, 
89, 133 ;  Chinese,  163  ;  Japanese 
criticized  by  Nichiren,  293,  etc. 

Sei-wang-mu,  127  n. 

Self-immolation,  36,  220,  244 

Self-nature  assembly,  date  of,  69  ! 

Shiloh,  50,  78,  82 

Shingon,  55,  60;  comp.  with 
Gnosticism,  61,  165  ;  explained, 
237 ;  patriarchs  of,  257 

Shinran,  268,  273 

Shinshu,  doctrines  of,  269 

Shintai,  110, 151 

Shinto,  371;  part  played  in  Re- 
storation, 377 


Shoguns,  lists  of,  342 

Shoshinge,  269 

Shotoku  Taishi,  175,  178,  209; 
constitution,  182 

Shushi  (Confucianist),  349,  364 

Sila,  136 

Siladitya  Harsha,  197,  209 

Silence,  period  of,  in  life  of  S'ak- 
yamuni, 18 

Silk  trade  between  Asia  and 
Europe,  53 

Silphium,  33 

Singanfu,  192,  209 

Six  Letters  of  the  Divine  Name, 
17  n.,  38  w. 

Soga  no  Iname,  173 

Son  of  Man,  111,  122 

Sthaviras,  21,  90 

Stoicism,  34 

Sugawara  Michizane,  259 

Sukhavati  Vyuha,  110, 166, 212, 265 

Sui  dynasty,  192,  208 

Suicide.     See  Self-immolation 

Sun  dynasties,  251 

Sutras,  mentioned  by  As'oka,  42, 
86;  Shatparamita,  123,  339; 
preached  on  by  Shotoku  Taishi, 
187-9;  Amida,  166;  quoted  by 
Nichiren,  327  ;  reduced  to  writ- 
ing, 265 

Swedenborg,  383 

Sword,  of  Empire,  100,  251 ;  two- 
edged,  308 

Tada  Kanab,  analysis  of  his  book, 

269 
Taihoryo,  code  of  laws,  206 
Taikwa,  reforms  of,  205 
Takshakaputra,  74,  113 
Tangs,  192,  209 
Taoism,  attempts  to  amalgamate 

Buddhism  with,  141,  154 
Taprobane  (Ceylon),  46,  100 
Tathagata,  82.     See  Nyoeai 


INDEX 


393 


Tatsin,  217 

Tatsu  no  Kuchi,  297,  333 

Tendai,   Chinese,  165,  231,  279; 

Japanese,  232 
Tenshokodaijin,  198 
Terebinthus,  67,  147 
Therapeutse,  37,  59 
Theurgy,  in  Egypt,  Gnosticism, 

and  Shingon,  68 
Thomas,  St.,  legend  of,  71-74,  81, 

113 
Tiridates,  King,  119 
Tiruvallavar,  258 

Tokugawa  Mitsukuni,  loyalist,  376 
Treasures,  the  Sacred,  of  Japan, 

343 
Trinities,  Buddhist,  120,  200,  203, 

204 
Truths,     the    Four    Great,     14; 

apparent  and  true,  109 
Turkestan,  22 
Tuahita  Heaven,  92 
Two  ways  of  life,  110 

UiGHUBS,  44 

Upagupta,  22 

Upali  the  Barber,  22,  132 

Upright  Law,  period  of,  91,  124 

Usuns,  45 

Vaiboc'ana,  55,  108;  identified 
with  Osiris,  64;  with  Amaterasu, 
201.    See  One  Obiqinal 

Vajrasattva,  107 

Vajrayana,  247 

Valentinus,  58 


Vargash,  119 

Vasubandhu,  date  of,  162,  169 

Vedic  gods,  still  powerful  when, 

Buddhism  came  into  existence, 

11 
Vehicle,  the  Third,  111  and   n. 

See  also  1  R. 
Vinaya,    131-2,    133,    175.      See 

Errsu 

Wateb,  Holy  (in  Shingon),  308 
Way  of  the  Buddhas,  16 
Weaver,  the   Tamil.     See    TiBU- 

valluvab 
Wei.  Kingdom  of,  139,  171 
Welsh  legends,  46,  100  n- 
White  Horse,  legend,  57,  78,  79, 

312 ;  monastery,  78 
White  Lotus  Society,  160,  213 
Womb-world,  63,  64,  240 
Wu,  kingdom  of,  139 

Xavieb,  St.  Francis,  339,  345,  350 

Yeab  periods,  205 

Yoshitstme.    See  Genghis  Khan 

Zazen,  281 

Zen,  164,  278 ;  introduction  into 

Japan,    281 ;     explained,    224, 

etc.,  365 
ZendO,  160,  208,  etc. ;  323,  etc. 
Zodiac,       Egyptian,        Shingon, 

Turkish,  Japanese,  65,  66 
Zokutai  and  Shintai,  truth  divided 

into,  109 
Zoroastrians,  216 


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